Stonewall Riots Rhetorical Analysis

“That government is best which governs least” (Thoreau). Civil disobedience continues to be a controversial issue in America. Understanding the two viewpoints on the issue can give better insight into whether the act of breaking the law, when nonviolent, is correct or not. There are many examples of acts of civil disobedience throughout history that we can analyze to conclude whether or not their effects positively or negatively impact a free society.

“One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” powerfully concludes the American pledge, an oath declaring to the globe our unique commitment to uphold these righteous ideals. Unfortunately, as a result of human error, even a government founded upon these righteous principles may waver from the administration of justice and require redirection by its citizens. Through amendment of the Constitution, the founders allowed for this avenue of change, but unfortunately, historical events reveal this process often remains inaccessible. Consequently, individuals express their legislative discontent through two methods: Violent Revolution or Civil Disobedience. To avoid both regression into barbaric anarchy and maintain the principles

I believe peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. As citizens of the United States, we are born with certain natural rights. According to John Locke, an eighteenth century philosopher, natural rights are not bestowed by the government, but inherited by birth by virtue of the fact that we are human beings. These natural rights include life, liberty, and property. He theorized that the purpose of government was to protect those rights; and if it did not, it would lose its legitimacy and need not be obeyed.

Throughout the history of society, civil disobedience has become a key tool in combating laws seen as unjust. It was used thoroughly in the civil rights movement and was integral to the advancement of equality. The reason that civil disobedience plays such an important role in the advancement of rights is because of how effective it has been. The best way to make people aware of and relate to a movement is to make it well known. Events such as Bloody Sunday and the Montgomery Bus Boycott helped the civil rights movement gain much of the momentum that guaranteed its success.

The United States of America would be a different place without civil disobedience. Breaking the rules is usually considered wrong; however, sometimes there are exemptions to these rules, to fight for a good cause. Much of history was made through civil disobedience. Without it, we would still have slavery. We would have an overpowering government.

Civil disobedience makes a statement. It is a tool that can be used to make a difference. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws helps a free society by allowing people to be heard without violence. Anyone can attack brutally, either verbally or physically, to get attention. But the best way to be noticed is to, “create such a crisis and establish such a creative tension...that it can no longer be ignored,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his letter from a Birmingham jail.

On the 28th of June, 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall inn, a mafia-owned gay bar in New York, became a turning point in the fight for LGBT rights when the bar’s patrons began violently protesting their mistreatment. While the police had a warrant to search the bar for the sale of alcohol without a liquor license, they were also motivated by morality laws which included many anti-gay restrictions. The Stonewall riots continued for several more nights, and gave rise to an extreme increase in the number of gay liberation organizations and gave the LGBT community a more powerful voice, with the protests coming to symbolize the beginning of the gay liberation movement. Homosexuality in the 1960s

Civil disobedience is an act or exercise that is employed so that change through direct or indirect action is taken in order to seize the attention of immoral objective found within a situation. The African Americans living in Chicago used this by exhibiting the civil movements through their visual art and music. The time period in which their art influences took place was during the Harlem Renaissance of 1920’s through 1930’s.

This was a significant moment in our history, a time in which we have somewhat overcome. We have made extreme progress now since the 60s, making it more acceptable for homosexuals to live their lives in peace. Although, it has not been one hundred percent successful. Times have changed and it is no longer considered a dark age for homosexuals like it was back in the 60s. Homosexuals are sometimes still targeted, but more now by individuals rather than big groups of people and government officials.

Drag has a rich history in society, and it was not always pleasant history. Before the 1960s, drag was essentially used for theater purposes back in the Shakespearian age, because women were not allowed to act in productions, so men dressed as women. In the 1960s however, there were around 500 drag queens actively working in the United States. Drag at that point was completely underground and taboo, as most of LGBT community was. The turning point of the LGBT rights movement was the Stonewall Riots in 1966 at the Stonewall Inn in New York.

Peaceful or violent resistance? If one day you found a discriminating law you have to do something to change. To do that you have different types the violent and the nonviolent one. One type of peaceful resistance is the civil disobedience.

The formal definition of civil disobedience is any act or process of public defiance of a law or policy enforced by established governmental authorities. The term disobedient generally means to defy, or for the "normal" to be disobeyed. The term "normal" from one person to the next may be different. I believe that Freedom of Speech intervenes to a point. When a law is set, it is understandable that that law must be obeyed.

Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. Civil disobedience has been perform as an act of peaceful protest for plenty of years. I believe civil disobedience does indeed work. Civil disobedience opens the eyes of the civilians. It makes them aware of the treatment and their privileges as a citizen of the United States of America.

Civil disobedience has been an enormous event throughout American history, but is currently increasing in our daily lives. I believe that protesting against the laws in a peaceful manner is an appropriate and a brilliant idea to get your opinions across to the American people. If certain causes or people are violent about their opinions, nobody would want to follow them because of the ignorance involved. When I see violence in a protest, I instantly disagree with their fight due to the forcefulness and viciousness of their cause. We need to conduct ourselves in a professional manner when expressing what we believe in, if you do not, people will not take you seriously.