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Martin Luther King's Journey To Peace Essay

506 Words3 Pages

Mariam Tarek
English Hw
8/1/2017

Martin Luther King’s journey to peace
During the 19th century, a Mexican-American war took place in the United States. A few people saw this as an act of violence against the weak in the country. Henry Thoreau was one of the people who believed this war was wrong. He refused to pay taxes to the government because of the war even though he could afford to pay them. Because it was illegal to refuse to pay taxes owed to the government, Thoreau was put in jail. Later, his tax was paid by one of his relatives and he was released. After he got out, he wrote an essay “Civil Disobedience” which explained why it is sometimes important to refuse to follow a law if it’s unjust.
Years later, a minister named Martin Luther King began his journey to nonviolent fight. The United States’ government is required to protect its citizens’ rights. However, the opposite happened. The US government denied African Americans’ rights. Martin Luther King believed the laws and rules needed to change.
Many people were angry and tried to pursue peace and change through violence. However, Dr. King believed in making change by peaceful means. In order to show people how, he joined nonviolent demonstrations. The more people listened to Dr. King and followed his …show more content…

The first is “One can resist evil without resorting to violence.” Second is “nonviolence seeks to win the ‘friendship and understanding’ of the opponent, not to humiliate him”. Third is “evil itself, not the people committing evil acts, should be opposed”. Fourth “Those committed to nonviolence must be willing to suffer without retaliation as suffering itself can be redemptive”. Fifth “nonviolence resistance avoids ‘external physical violence’ and ‘internal violence of spirit’ as well. And finally, the sixth is “nonviolent resistor must have “deep faith in the future’ stemming from the conviction that the universe is on the side of

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