Is censorship, even of bigoted or incendiary material, an appropriate use of civil disobedience?
First of all, before answering this question, you need a better understanding of what civil disobedience means. Well, civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. To put it in simpler terms, it’s nonviolent resistance.
Ever since the infamous and tragic event that happened in the summer of July 2013, a mixed Hispanic Florida man named George Zimmerman pleaded not guilty of second-degree murder, by the state’s law, of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed seventeen year old African American male; it delivered an unbelievable amount of international
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Gray was sent to a Trauma Center after he fell into a coma, one week later; he passed away due to life threatening spinal cord injuries. On April 21, 2015, pending an investigation of the incident, six Baltimore police officers were temporarily suspended with pay. Bystanders proposed that the officers who were involved in used unnecessary force on Gray’s arrest. As a result to Gray’s death, it has sparked the 2015 Baltimore protests. Because of that, Black Lives Matter, an activist movement campaigns against what it calls police brutality in the United States against African-Americans, begun. Several media organizations have referred to it as "a new civil rights movement." However, several conservative pundits have labeled the movement a "hate group”. As the outcome of Black Lives Matter, premature mortality rate for African Americans rises by 15 …show more content…
Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, strive every single day to for peace and equality to the world. The earth was never created for human beings to despise nor judge another because of the color of their skin. To quote Dr. King “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Rather than violence, chaos and war; protesting and boycott were the African Americans response of wanting peace and freedom toward their ethicality among many others. From Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr; Dr. King discusses his political beliefs about unjust laws. He determined the difference between ‘just laws” and “unjust laws” as he stated “A just law is a man-made code the squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral
Summary of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. writes about the issue of waiting for justice and God given rights for African Americans, the need for a good faith negotiation quickly, and using the strategy of a non-violent campaign and protest to achieve it all. His initial reasoning for writing these letters was to answer the sincere criticism he had received from a fellow clergymen in hopes to bring about a negotiation of peace. Dr. King hoped to shed light on the reasoning be hide the protesting and explain why the protesting needed to take place and at such an “untimely” time. He also yearned to shed light on the racism that had engulfed the nation and the ugly record of brutality that African Americans had suffered in the past and at that moment currently.
King was disappointed in the biased and distorted views of his fellow religious colleagues and the fact that they showed no concern for the brutality endured by the black community. The exigence of it is Dr. King felt the necessity to defend and justify his nonviolent actions and responded to their accusations and disapproval by writing a Letter from Birmingham Jail. In his letter King wrote about racial discrimination and the struggles and inequalities faced by the black community and he intended for it to encourage and promote desegregation and equality among all nations.
In February 2012, a 28-year-old man followed a 17-year-old youth and killed him on a residential street. The youth hadn’t done anything; he did not commit a crime, and he hadn’t provoked the older man. He was shot simply because he seemed “suspicious.” This was the story of Trayvon Martin’s death in Sanford, Florida at the hands of George Zimmerman (Cooper). Zimmerman, the killer, is a white man while Trayvon was an innocent black youth.
Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed on August 9, 2014 by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting prompted protests. When it was announced that Officer Wilson would not be indicted, the announcement set off another wave of protests. Not all police officers are dishonest and abuse their power but It 's obvious that today 's community of people has a suspicion of officers true intentions. The idea of cops and cameras has been around for a while but ever since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown the debate on whether police officers should be required to wear body cameras has been the center of attention.
Like Martin Luther King Jr once said “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” With these words in mind, I affirm the resolution resolved: Civil disobedience in a democracy is morally justified. I offer the following definitions to help clarify the round: Civil disobedience is nonviolent refusal to follow the laws or demands of government to prove a point and the person participating in civil disobedience has to accept the consequences. A democracy is a government by the people, where the people elect representatives or the leader. Not everyone has to vote in a democracy but, the leaders or representatives have to be decided by the majority of eligible voters.
Martin Luther King wanted to spark emotion in both the African American and white audience. He wanted to spark the emotion in the African American for them to join the non-violence movement. Dr. King said, “but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth” to bring emotion in fellow African American to the growth of racial equality. He wanted to spark the emotion in the White community to lessening the aggressiveness by giving insight on the everyday life of the African American. In paragraph 10 he quotes, “But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity”.
During a time of violence, segregation, and racism, few people had the courage to speak out against it. Few people had the bravery to go against what the masses believed, and fewer had the authority to do so. One of these few people was Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the ways in which he spoke out was through a letter written while imprisoned. King was imprisoned by Bull Connor, a police chief in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960’s for not having a license to parade or protest. While in jail, King received a letter written by eight Alabama clergymen who pleaded for African Americans to stop protesting and wait for segregation to happen on its own.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a peaceful person who advocated for equality. In his collections of speeches and writings in I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World, edited by James Melvin Washington, King shows how he studied non-violence resistance from the teachings of Gandhi. He advocates for equality through peace because he believes it to be more effective than in hateful acts. His speeches and writings urge readers to consider aspects of human experiences that involve equal rights for everyone. Malcolm X was similar to King in them both wanting equality.
On April 12, 2015, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr, a 25-year-old African-American man, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for an illegal switchblade. While being transported to the local police station, in a police van, Gray fell into a state of "extreme lethargy" and was taken to a trauma center. Gray passed on April 19, 2015; his demise was due to injuries to his spinal rope. On April 21, 2015, pending an examination of the occurrence, six Baltimore cops were incidentally suspended with pay. The six officers accused of Gray 's death are Caesar Goodman, Garret Miller, Edward Nero, William Porter, Lieutenant Brian Rice and Sargent Alicia White.
Martin Luther King Jr. mentions his own kids and their personal experiences, along with his experiences to show that he knows what he is talking about because he has in fact experienced all the injustices. King is also calm which appeals to his calm nature and showing no harm with fighting for civil rights and equality with the use of nonviolence which he addresses in his letter (In any nonviolent Campaign there are four basic steps…)(1).
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of his time and played a crucial role in the African-American Civil Rights movement. Luther was a charismatic leader who took a firm stand against the oppressive and racist regime of the United States (US), devoting much of his life towards uniting the segregated African-American community of the US. His efforts to consolidate and harmonise the US into one country for all is reflected in many of his writings and speeches spanning his career. As a leader of his people, King took the stand to take radical measures to overcome the false promises of the sovereign government that had been addressing the issues of racial segregation through unimplemented transparent laws that did nothing to change the grim realities of the society. Hence, King’s works always had the recurring theme of the unity and strength of combined willpower.
Plagiarism can be an act of civil disobedience Plagiarism, one of the fundamental issues of academic life, is a basic subject to portray, yet difficult to maintain a strategic distance from. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary: plagiarism is the action of using the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own words or ideas. As defined previously, plagiarism is only taking someone else work without giving credits. I believe plagiarism cannot be an act of civil disobedience because it is not a political act and does not envision a change in the law or policies in the government. What is a civil disobedience?
In the United states people wonder, Is the use of civil disobedience warranted in response to laws that some people feel are unjust? It is a very controversial subject, many believe that it is warranted in response to those laws people feel are unjust or unfair, and others believe that it is not warranted. I believe as if it is both, in many ways it can be justified, many people protest in order for their voices to be heard, for them to hae a say in something, but sometimes it can get out of hand and turn violent and due to that other peoplr believe it is not justified. Recently there has been a lot of protests about the desicions and laws president donald trump is making, in example when a young african american man was shot and killed by
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” These astonishing words that Mahatma Gandhi said made me suppose that Civil Disobedience is a Moral Responsibility of a citizen because when breaking certain laws, a citizen perhaps incorporate a good intention or a bad intention for breaking it. Citizens break the law occasionally to have their beliefs be heard so change can be assemble. Some ways that Civil Disobedience can be a Moral Responsibility would be breaking the law for the right intentions. An example of breaking the law for the right intentions could be The Salt March that Gandhi Created or, Rosa Parks standing up for her beliefs about her actions, MLK wanting equal rights with caucasian. Illegal Immigrants coming into the
Cops around the United States have been accused of racially profiling black people. This topic has been brought up by everyone around the U.S. and is very controversial. Studies have shown that the majority of deaths by police officers have been people of opposite color in America. Police brutality in America is a growing epidemic that has shown no signs of slowing down. Innocent men, women, and even children have been killed by police officers for no reason.