Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement Essay Sample

📌Category: Historical Figures, History, History of the United States, Racism, Social Issues, Social Movements
📌Words: 628
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 18 June 2022

Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American civil rights activist during the 1960s.  MLK made a significant impact on segregation in America through peaceful protests.  His choice to protest was inspired by the ideas of Thoreau and Gandhi.  One thing he was known for was openly breaking certain laws, as well as encouraging others to do the same.  The question is, are these choices to break certain laws acceptable or not.  MLK was doing no wrong in breaking the laws because they were unjust and unfair.  

The average person would say a law is a law and it should not be broken.  However, looking back into the 60s and MLK, he breaks multiple laws on purpose to help spread his message. Although, MLK’s reasoning to break the law was justified.  MLK stated in a letter that he wrote from prison that “I would agree with Saint Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all.”  This quote shows that MLK knows to follow laws, however, he will not follow a law that is purposely made unfair in what is supposed to be a democratic country.  An example of these unjust laws are conniving methods to prevent African Americans from becoming registered voters.  Additionally, there were states with zero registered African American voters, but the state had a majority African American population.  These laws are what you would expect out of a dictatorship, not a democracy.  Due to the unfairness of the laws, MLK pushed to purposely not follow them.

Some people may ask, how does one know if a law is just or not?  There is a difference between the two.  MLK states in this letter that “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral code or the law of God.”  This means that any law that applies to everyone in the United States and is fair is a just law.  An unjust law does not follow these guidelines, it targets certain people to purposely punish the, or make their life harder.  MLK also states in his letter that “An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating…”  This quotation shows that certain laws were made to inflict unpleasant times on a certain group of people or minority.  Due to the unfairness of certain laws, MLK told his supporters to not follow the unfair laws.

Throughout a letter MLK made in prison he explains wat an unjust law is, how they are unjust, and how to break them.  MLK does not want his supporters to use any violence.  He states that “In no sense do I advocate evading or defying laws as the rabid segregationist would do.  This would lead to anarchy.”  This shows he is not just saying to all his people to break every law.  He only wanted the unjust laws to be changed.  Throughout a letter he wrote about how to break these unjust laws.  He explains that “One who breaks an unjust law must do it openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.  This shows that he does not want any type of chaos.  He only wants people to be treated equally and fairly.

MLK accomplished many great things during the 60s as a civil rights activist.  Although, one big question is, did he do it the right way?  He motivated his followers to break laws.  He did tell people to break laws, however, he stated to only break the unfair and unjust laws.  MLK’s actions to break unjust laws were completely acceptable because the laws were unfair.  He did not just go around breaking laws as he pleased.  He peacefully broke laws that were racist, unjust, and targeted towards minorities.  By doing this he made great strides towards the end of racism in the United States.

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