Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr
As human beings we have a moral obligation to keep our beliefs close to home. By that, individuals have the right to disobey the law that they feel are unjust or as Martin Luther King quotes “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” While Martin Luther King was in a Birmingham jail he wrote a letter to the people about how society is leading people into misjudged life. He got in detail right away about the misrepresentation that society leads us into. He says that the reason he is in jail is because “injustice is here” (MLK 141).
Martin Luther King, in response to a public statement made by eight Alabama clergymen, attempts to construct an acceptable Christian definition of what "just" and "unjust" laws should entail. King realized it would be futile to directly argue his positions on the evils of segregation. The clergymen made it clear that they were not impressed with how anti-segregationists were breaking laws instead of biding their time, waiting for the courts to take action on segregation in a lawful manner. Making a valid rebuttal against many of the ideas they put forth would take more than just coming out with an unrelenting confrontation. King knew all his words would be cast aside, because he would initially be seen as inferior to these religious men. Therefore, King realized he must transcend the role of anti-segregationist, to instead be viewed as a man who desired only righteousness, and whose words compelled the reader to share his sentiments.
Martin Luther King describes four basic nonviolent campaigns to back up his writing. These four would be collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action. King believed that if these steps were taken then people will understand the injustice his communities of people were struggling through.
If we tried to analysis this piece of literature, we could compare and contrast King’s situation to Socrates situation....
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- Date Submitted: 06/09/2008 02:44 PM
- Category: Philosophy
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