Three Ways Of Meeting Oppression Essay

760 Words4 Pages
Oppression is a cruel truth in the society of the world. One person who has observed his fair share of oppression is Martin Luther King Jr. Being a civil rights activist, he has spoken on oppression at the National Mall with his “I Have a Dream” speech, shared in the fight against injustice at the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and eventually helped to achieve the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Martin Luther King Jr., Biography.com). In his essay Three Ways of Meeting Oppression, King Jr. explores the idea of violence in cooperation with oppression, the idea that injustice is not simply a racial problem, and the idea of accepting oppression. Violence, King suggests, is not the best way to solve problems with maltreatment. He states that cruelty is a way to face injustice, but it does nothing but hurt both parties involved. Violence does not have the oppressed gain the understanding of his or her oppressor or win over the oppressor. According to King, the only aim is to degrade the tyrant. He uses the example from Gandhi, “An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind,” (King 161) to display how the use of violence does not help the persecuted obtain what they want and only causes the situation to worsen. Martin Luther King Jr continues by explaining the benefits of non-violent resistance. He uses the example of Hegelian…show more content…
In doing so, the oppressed adapts to such injustice. With every stride forward against injustice, there are some who choose to remain in their current situation (King 159). King uses the example of slaves in Israel to describe his meaning. He tells of how Moses tries to get the slaves to leave Egypt and find true freedom in the land God promised them. Moses then learns that the laborers did not necessarily welcome him. The slaves would comparatively keep laboring in the current situation instead of leaving for new labors. (King
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