Summary Of Letter From Birmingham Jail By Martin Luther King
Dr. King brings up the anxiety that willingness to break laws can cause. He decides next to answer the question, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” He feels that, “there are just laws, and there are unjust laws” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 2). Dr. King explains first that, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 2). He next explains that, “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 3).
Dr King continues on to provide more examples for just and unjust laws. Dr. King details that, “An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself. On the other hand, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow, and that it is willing to follow itself” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 3).
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is being called an “extremist”. He makes the case that there are two sides of viewpoints in the African-American community. He explains that, “One is a force of complacency made up of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, have been so completely drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 4). He mentions that, “on the other hand, of a few Negroes in the middle class who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because at points they profit by segregation, have unconsciously become insensitive to the problems of the masses” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 4). Dr. King describes the other viewpoint as, “The other force is one of bitterness and hatred and comes perilously close to advocating violence.” (Letter from Birmingham 4). He uses various black nationalist groups, one of them being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. He expresses that racial discrimination has caused the different viewpoints of violence to exist. Dr. King uses these to make the transition to his next
Summary Of Letter From Birmingham Jail
2081 Words | 9 PagesIn the article “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. responds to clergymen who described his civil rights activities as “unwise and untimely”. Dr. King argues that while just laws should be obeyed, unjust laws aren’t binding because they go against decent morality and they degrade human lives. He explains the three-hundred-year struggles by African Americans to gain their basic rights and responds to criticism of being an extremist for trying to force change on this matter. Ultimately his reasoning is that those attempting to find a resolution to the injustice and unequal laws of the land should not be punished if they are doing so nonviolently, even if they break some just laws. I argue in favor of this idea that unjust laws
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1316 Words | 6 PagesHe defines a just law as “a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God,” while defining an unjust law as “a code that is out of harmony with the moral law” (King 128). He argues that unjust laws hurt not only the oppressed but also the oppressor because the oppressor has been given a “false sense of superiority” while the oppressed, a “false sense of inferiority” (King 129). Thus, people have the moral obligation to defy laws that are unjust and obey laws that are just. King proceeds to write about segregation, describing it as unjust because “segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality”; therefore, it is a law worth opposition. King attests that one who breaks an unjust law must be willing to accept the penalty given in order to avoid anarchy and lead to a positive societal impact.
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448 Words | 2 Pages(Paragraph 4). This drew the clergymen’s attention to King’s beliefs and possibly made them realize the flaws in the system. King also states, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law…” (Paragraph 5).
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959 Words | 4 PagesKing makes the point that a law is just if it follows the Law of God and Unjust if it doesn’t. King goes on further to explain a just law is a law that a “power majority group” wants a minority group to follow and is willing to follow the same law itself. On the other end of the spectrum an unjust law would be if the Majority group isn’t willing to follow the same law they are requiring a minority group to follow. With all of Kings bashing of laws in the letter King takes a step back to clarify that he doesn’t want everyone to go out and break the law, he says this would lead to anarchy. He also says “One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.”
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