Civil Disobedience: The Black Lives Matter Movement

The Black Lives Matter movement has intervened on America’s unjust treatment of African Americans with nonviolent protests, rallies to reach out to the people, and the making of coalitions of Black Americans. Since the Black Lives Matter movement has started the ideal of civil disobedience has changed in the public eye. Civil Disobedience is still relevant in today’s world, but with the historic beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, and other advocates of bettering America, we can discover a better way to find resolutions in violent political conflicts. “Consent of the governed determines if a law is just” was an ideal coined by John Locke, an advocate of America freedom. The ideal says that the people that follow

On August 9, the shooting of the unarmed, African American teen, Eric Garner, cited the outcry of many people who didn’t see a peaceful resolution because of their anger. The protestors of Ferguson, Missouri burned down stores, threw rocks and molotov cocktails at police, who then in return, fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protestors. These violent protests began when the judge made the decision that the police officer responsible for the killing of Eric Garner would not be charged. “Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up”. (Mahatma Gandhi) The reason people around the world don’t believe in civil disobedience today is the violence that occurs from angry protesters not knowing a rightful way to respond to the unfairness, except taking to the streets and destroying anything around them to send a message. The only message that the violence sends is that the advocates of the Black Lives Matter movement are unintelligent, ignorant, simple minded imbeciles who only know how to handle the unrighteous treatment of their fellow brothers and sisters with the action of wild apes. Do you want your beliefs and the way you represent yourself be identified with a monkey? The only successful protest is nonviolent protest. To better the message that Black Lives Matter is sending to people it must take more action with

The only people who can change what laws are instituted among them and their voice within these laws are the people who follow them. On July 6, 2016 Diamond Reynolds live streams aftermath of her boyfriend's shooting. Mrs. Reynolds uses Facebook livestream to showcase the shooting of her boyfriend, Philando Castile, within their car as Castile is asked to show some type of identification to the officer. When he reaches for his wallet the officer fires 4 bullets into his chest, revealing blood all over Mr, Castile’s shirt and the screams of Diamond Reynolds. When Reynolds asked the officer why he shot her husband, he shakes with uncontrollable fear, then speaks, “I don’t know”. Mr. Castile later dies. President Obama speaks on the incident calling the recent African American deaths “tragedies” and demanding that the country as a whole “do better”. (McLaughlin) At this time in America I believe the African American people are lacking the power that the democratic government has promised them. The Minnesota governor, Mark Dayton made the statement saying that he didn’t think the incident would have occurred if the couple was white. The African American’s voice is being suffocated and strangled out of them by the police and the government, the enforcers