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Martin Luther King and Civil Disobedience
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This paper provides a discussion of Martin Luther King and civil disobedience based on ...... More...
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Paper Abstract:
This paper provides a discussion of Martin Luther King and civil disobedience based on King’s views he expressed to the white local clergy in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” after they asked him to discontinue his protests in the city. Also includes an outline of the paper.
Paper Introduction:
Martin Luther King and Civil Disobedience Outline I A Protests in Alabama B Why King Jr went to Birmingham C The Clergy response to King\'s civil disobedience Thesis King Jr had to resist man-made law and establishedauthorities like the state and church in order to follow a higher law andsense of justice that promoted human rights for all individuals II Civil Disobedience A Thoreau\'s civil disobedience King\'s view of the right B King Jr \'s civil rights leadership Gandhi\'s passiveresistance C State
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State & federal response III. Civil Disobedience A. King's leadership of the Civil Rights Movement was comparable to theleadership of Mohandas Gandhi in liberating Indians from British occupationand control. Irwin Edman. Thoreau's civil disobedience & King's view of the "right." B. Ed. went to Birmingham C. A. Why King Jr. In the midstof racial tensions King, Jr. King's view of protest was that non-violent protest was the only wayto effectively negotiate with more powerful authorities when thoseauthorities were guilty of violating the civil rights of citizens. Thoreau was a leading proponent of civil disobediencephilosophy in the U.S., arguing that the individual in a democracy had aright to disobey any government that did not support what is right. 1849. as being out of hisjurisdiction, maintaining he was an outsider who stirred up trouble byinciting African Americans to protest against local authorities. King viewed his non-violent protestsas supporting the right, even if it clashed with established localauthorities and their laws. "Satyagraha." The Communist Manifesto and Other Revolutionary Writings: Marx, Marat, Paine, Mao Tse-Tung, Gandhi and Others. King's non-violentresistance had achieved its ultimate aim, paving the way for the erosion ofall barriers to success for African Americans. InBirmingham, notorious for its stubborn resistance to change, Toonari (2)notes that after weeks of demonstrates "civil rights and business leadersagreed on a settlement that broke down some of segregation's barriers."Ultimately, Kings methods and leadership would result in the passage of theCivil Rights Act of 1965, a landmark piece of legislation making it a crimeto discriminate against minorities in American society. As he explains quite clearly in Apology, "Men of Athens, I honorand love you; but I shall obey God rather than you" (Plato 74). King used the rights guaranteed to all citizens in the U.S.Constitution in many instances in the letter to convince the clergy thatAfrican Americans had little alternative in the face of unjust laws andauthorities but to hold non-violent protests from sit-ins and marches toprotests and boycotts. King Jr. and Justice in Birmingham King believed that moral law or God's law was higher than man-madelaw. took up the fight for civil rightsin Birmingham. B. provides anexplanation of the origins of nonviolent protest and how it offers thosewho adhere to it in significant numbers the tools necessary to bring aboutsocial change. would pay the ultimate sacrificefor his civil rights leadership and resistance to authority. The Birmingham Clergy viewed King, Jr. history. Martin Luther King and Civil Disobedience Outline I. New York: Macmillan, 1974, 22 -237.King, Martin Luther, Jr. was assassinated on a motel balcony in theSouth. Higher Law & King's views B. 1 Apr. A. "Henry David Thoreau: Civil Disobedience & Later Life." Journal of American History 3.4: 3-9.Plato. King Jr. C. Man-made law v. and sacrifice C. had to resist man-made law and establishedauthorities like the state and church in order to follow a higher law andsense of justice that promoted human rights for all individuals. As King (221) wrote in his letter to them,"Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the UnitedStates. However, King relied on the guaranteedrights of the U.S. Works CitedClayborne, Carson. who "left their villages and carried 'thus saith the Lord' farbeyond the boundaries of their home towns" (King 22 ). "Civil Rights: Birmingham, Alabama." Africanaonline.com. also believes he is justified in hisactions because he is fighting for his rights and the rights of AfricanAmericans and all Americans guaranteed in the U.S. Ultimately, King and Gandhi would change nationsthrough the use of non-violent resistance. Constitution andenshrined in principle in the Declaration of Independence. had to resist man-made law and establishedauthorities like the state and church in order to follow a higher law andsense of justice that promoted human rights for all individuals. U.S. Ed. "Paradoxes of King Historiography." OAH Magazine of History 19.1 (Jan. Constitution basis for King's justification IV. King Jr.'s civil rights leadership & Gandhi's passiveresistance. Itwas these riots that brought King to the demonstrations that got himarrested. King complains to the clergy in his letter that they seem tohave no disdain for the use of violence or of the perpetuation of racialinjustice by local authorities. and the white clergy were at odds over human rights inrelation to the racial injustices perpetuated against African Americans.King chastises the clergy for not only failing to concern themselves withthese abuses but also for their implicit support of local authoritiesresponsible for brutality against blacks. As King (12) asserts, the form of nonviolent protest thathelped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act was one that was honedthrough various protests, "Tested in Montgomery during the winter of 1955-56, and toughened throughout the South in the eight ensuing years,nonviolent resistance had become, by 1963, the logical force in thegreatest mass-action crusade for freedom that has ever occurred." TheBirmingham campaign resulted in King being sent to jail but also wroughtchange there and focused the nation on the need for Civil Rights. In this sense, Kingmaintained his actions were justified by Biblical precedence and challengedthe clergy in their allegiance to local authorities who maintained racismand segregation.Civil Disobedience Both Henry David Thoreau and Mohandas Gandhi were influences onKing's form of protest known as civil disobedience or passive/non-violentresistance. "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 1963. John Locke (114) supported asimilar concept on his treatises on government, where he wrote thatgovernment officials are "merely deputies of the people, trustees who canbe discarded if they fail in their trust." King believed those in power inBirmingham were in violation of rights in the U.S. Outcome of King's civil disobedience Martin Luther King and Civil Disobedience By the 196 s, local government efforts to maintain racialsegregation earned the city the nickname of the "Tragic City" (Toonari 1).A major location of black industrial labor during the era, Birmingham wasalso a focal point of civil rights protests during the 195 s and 196 s.From a bus boycott to numerous protests, Birmingham was a location whereracial tensions peaked by 1963. In one of Plato's dialogues, Socrates explains that he will notbreak the law that he finds unjust and is responsible for his beingcondemned to death because there is a higher justice than man-made laws.Socrates argues it is impious to follow laws that go against the laws ofthe gods. Clergy on Human Rights C. King arguedthat the clergy in Birmingham had ignored injustice against AfricanAmericans. The effects of King's civil disobedience were enormous. 2 5): 7-1 .Gandhi, Mohandas K. Acts of violence were routinely visited upon African Americans, evenwhen their demonstrations or protests were non-violent. Why We Can't Wait. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2 3.King, Martin Luther, Jr. Despite his method of non-violent resistance, King, Jr. Forthis to happen, King Jr. 1 Apr. Samuel Cohen. 2 9 . In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. AsThoreau wrote, "I think that we should be men first, and subjectsafterward. This is evident by the factthat we now have the first African American president in U.S. Constitution and inviolation of acting in their own interests rather than those of allcitizens. The Clergy response to King's civil disobedience Thesis: King Jr. New York: The Modern Library, 1956.Thoreau, Henry David. King (236)argued the wells of democracy that the founding fathers "dug deep" in theirforging of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence could only berestored when standing up for what is right was the goal and action of allindividuals. Kingaligned himself with Biblical authority when he responded to thisallegation by telling the clergy he was like the prophets of the eighthcentury B.C. In Why We Can't Wait, Martin Luther King, Jr. Gandhi (4) promoted a concept known as non-cooperation or"satyagraha." As King was doing in Birmingham, Gandhi believed it wasnecessary to resist civil laws considered unjust. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known." From unsolvedbombings to horrific treatment in the courts, King complains that federaland local authorities have been the problem more than the solution forAfrican Americans.King Jr. Protests in Alabama B. & Justice in Birmingham A. II. King Jr. Blaisdell. Constitution to support his view that a government thattyrannizes its people must be resisted. King, Jr. 2 9 .Toonari. As he wrote, "I am sorry your statement did not express asimilar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations intobeing" (King 222). Resistance to Civil Government. Locally, authorities and Birmingham were unwilling to give in toKing's demands for justice and an end to racism and segregation in thecity. King Jr. v. As King (22 ) tells the clergy,"It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, butit is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left theNegro community with no alternative." In this statement, King isimplicating the clergy for their support of the powerful, white socialinstitutions that permit racial injustice and brutality against blacks. Brutal acts by thePolice Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor included fire hosing demonstratorsand using "dogs to drive back the youthful demonstrators" (Toonari 3). It is not so desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, somuch as for the right" (Pearson 3). A powerful leader of the civil rights movement and ofAfrican Americans, King was arrested with other non-violent protestors.While there, King composed a letter to the clergy of Birmingham in responseto their admonition that he abandon participation in protests in the city.On charges that he was an outsider, King revealed his purpose for being inthe city, "I am here in Birmingham because injustice is here" (King 22 ).King believed injustice in one location represented a threat to justice ineverywhere. In "I've Been to theMountaintop," shortly before his assassination, King made it clear thatonly nonviolence brings about social change in a way that promotessurvival, "It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence inthis world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence" (Clayborne 9). New York: Signet, 2 .Pearson, John. Ed. The Works of Plato. As Gandhi (3 ) writesin the Collected Works, "non-cooperation implies withdrawing of cooperationfrom the state that in the non-cooperator's view has become corrupt." Kingdefinitely viewed the local authorities in Birmingham as unjust in theiractions as well as in their laws reinforcing continued racial injustice.Gandhi, like King, preferred non-cooperation because it was non-violent andeven the youngest members of society could participate in acts of civildisobedience, as was the case with both India's salt marches led by Gandhiand Civil Rights protests led by King in the United States. King alsomakes an appeal to a higher law than that of men in his letter to the whiteclergy of Birmingham. wasbrutally slain by a violent assassin. As such, King Jr. and Socrates B. Why has every man a conscience then?" In King's letter itis apparent that he was appealing to a higher moral conscience than theactions or laws of local authorities that he finds not "right." As King(3) reminded the clergy, "There can be no gainsaying the fact that racialinjustice engulfs this community." From King's view, his civildisobedience was highly justified and morally mandated. Like Socrates and Gandhi, King Jr. Despite this, his death greatlyangered and galvanized the black community like never before in theirdemand for change. InResistance to Civil Government, Thoreau (3) asks the question, "Must thecitizen ever for a moment or in the least degree, resign his conscience tothe legislator? King (225) pointed to how his arrest on the chargeof parading without a permit was misused to serve racism, "Such anordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and denycitizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest."King made an appeal to the words of one of the founding fathers, ThomasJefferson, when he reminded the clergy he wrote that "We holds these truthsto be self evident, that all men are created equal" (King 229). 5 Essays. Despite thenumerous episodes of violence associated with protests aimed at CivilRights, it was King's nonviolent form of protest that galvanized whites andblacks and united them in a call for change. When man-made laws such as those in Birmingham deviated from themoral law, King believed non-violent resistance was necessary even criticalfor survival of unjustly treated groups. Ultimately, racial protests by African Americans would result inviolent clashes throughout the South that would demand intervention bystate and federal authorities.
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