Aimee Martinez
Ms. Flores
Period 2; English 11
17 March 2023
Performance Task “Well, I don't think of love as, in this context, emotional bosh. I don't think of it as a weak force. But I think of love as something strong, and that organizes itself into powerful direct action (Martin Luther King Jr.). Making a change in society by approaching it in a violent manner will not get the right attention towards the change wanted. The principles of nonviolent resistance consist of making a social or political change in society without using any form of violence. Violence is unjustifiable when making a social change; fighting the hate within society by spreading more hate and violence will not create good change. Non-violence is a passive, yet strong approach to a non-ideal social situation. Change simply cannot be made when advocating with what is being advocated against. Having an “eye for an eye” mentality will not outweigh any wrongdoing when the objective is to create a better social or political outcome. In his book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot
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As Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate”. Martin Luther King expresses that non-violence is not defined by silence, but by moral prevail: silencing criticism, being able to make a statement using words, and being in unity will always be more powerful than those who must resort to violence in order to advocate for their cause. Humans were endowed with moral and ethical conciseness; a need for change does not excuse nor make violence
In the essay named “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Junior, He uses many great approaches to many different problems faced in his time. The fact that he wants to use a nonviolent approach to solve these problems is not only an admirable thing to do but also the right thing to do. Instead of using violent means to make his points, he instead uses things such as sit-ins, marches, boycotts, and many other ways to peacefully make his point. This in turn breaks the cycle of hatred between the races at that time. If he had used other means, then the problem would have only escalated and gotten worse.
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King professes his disappointment with the white moderates for calling him an extremist for his schemes. At first, in paragraph 27, King does not deny the fact-by using anaphora- that there are some Negros who “advocate violence”, but he also asserts that there are even more for “nonviolent protest”(King 28). In making this comment, King urges for people to look at his acts of nonviolent protesting . Indeed the insignificant amount of violence will be more looked upon than the nonviolence; however, there are numerous acts nonvilence that should surpass this. Additionally, in paragraph 31, King states how at first he despised the label but then “gained [...] satisfaction” from it.
Nonviolent resistance is one strategy that can be used in any movement or retaliation. In the 1960s, one man, named Martin Luther King, Jr. very much supported that idea. In his letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King writes back to the eight clergymen as a response to their criticism towards his nonviolent movement and actions. Throughout his letter, King discusses how necessary his movement is, especially by using credibility, emotion, reasoning and various figurative language, and the effectiveness it can have towards social reform. Although all that content contained in the essay proved to be valuable to his argument, King’s three concluding paragraphs appeared to be more effectual because of how he ends the letter with a satirical
Peaceful resistance to laws has a more positive impact on a free society because it allows people to express how wrong something can be and stress the need for change. In the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King demonstrates how nonviolence allows those who "refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue" (King). Martin Luther King explains how effective nonviolence can be. This demonstrates how those protesting aren't causing chaos, yet are still being able to get their point across.
Like said by Elie Wiesel in his Nobel prize acceptance speech in 1986, “Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” “OUR SILENCE IS ANOTHER KIND OF VIOLENCE.”(Kiely 292) this quote is saying that staying silent might just be as worse as being the one discriminating against someone. Staying neutral in situations of police brutality and other acts of prejudice is also in favor of the oppressor, “IF YOU ARE NEUTRAL IN SITUATIONS OF INJUSTICE YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE SIDE OF THE OPPRESSOR”(Kiely 290) I think this quote would help change society for the better because, a lot of people stay neutral to try not to arouse feelings or divide people, which seems fair, but them doing that is helping the oppressor. This is because then the oppressor is not being called out or confronted because of their acts, this results in them obtaining a mindset that it is okay to discriminate or be
However, the nonviolent protests and endeavors employed by African Americans in the 1960s caught the attention of individuals nationwide. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s refusal to react violently showed white Americans that African Americans were not subhuman creatures prone to violence, but humans capable of intelligence and reason. African Americans were not animals capable of only slave labor, but individuals deserving of the rights promised by the Constitution of the United States to all American citizens. In addition to the aforementioned pieces of evidence, Martin Luther King believed that violence would never lead to peace, only to more violence. He was firm and justified in his affirmation that “This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe.
used ethos to encourage African Americans to overcome oppression,Martin Luther King Jr knew that any violence would ruin their chance at freedom, if this get violent it makes African Americans look bad and they will never receive the things they have been asking for, the most ethical thing for Martin Luther King Jr to do was to warn African Americans not to become violent, and explain to them that he knows that they have a taste for freedom, but being violent will not help them, and that exactly what he did; “ Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plain of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy, which has engulfed the Negro community, must not lead us to a distrust of all white people.”
In Cesar Chavez’s article published on the tenth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, he argues that nonviolent approaches to society’s moral and ethical dilemmas can make much more of an impact and end in better terms that work more favorably for the majority. Chavez supports his claim by describing the use violence to solve issues can result in severe consequences, implementing anaphora throughout his argument to make constant repetition of nonviolence stand out to the reader, and utilizing formal diction to make his advocation for nonviolent methods more appealing to the masses through direct explanation. The author’s purpose for writing this article is to highlight and incorporate his own views on non-violent strategies
On the other hand, using nonviolence allows people to participate and fight for what they believe in through non-violent ways like boycotts, marches, and strikes. These effective nonviolent “weapons” allow people to fight for change and keep their sense of strength and justice which would have otherwise been lost through
It showed that even children who were willing to carry the burden of freedom followed the philosophy of non-violence not just as a course of action but rather as a philosophy needed to spark change. This direct use of pathos shows the harsh reality of discrimination and touches the hearts of readers to understand how deep the philosophy of non-violence ran in many. Correspondingly, “We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and … asked ourselves: ‘Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?’” (King 3). Dr. King discusses in his letter, the lengths protestors had to go to, to perform sit-ins and not cave into the temptation to retaliate.
“As King wrote about nonviolence, he no doubt recalled the numerous instances in which civil rights activists had maintained their courage and discipline and responded to their oppressors with love” (Colaiaco). Martin Luther King believed that it is impossible to achieve a moral end by immoral means without causing damage to the soul and making oneself unworthy. One of the requirements of the volunteers of the non-violent demonstrations was to sign a “commitment card” which contained the Ten Commandments of the nonviolent movement. The first commandment required them to “meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.” Others explained that they must “walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love” and “refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.”
From the 1900s through present day, equality along with how to handle injustice situations has been hard. People all over the world struggle with being looked down upon or having rights that have taken away because of racism, which can cause violence anywhere. Martín Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Mohandas have had plenty experience. In order for non-violence to be successful, the movement needs to have discipline, courage, then leadership because how you handle a situation is how you eliminate the problem, discrimination. When it comes to non-violence discipline is the first virtue to learn.
and they need to fight. Nothing else is working so fighting is the only working option. Dr. King’s purpose to this speech is to get out the word that the people need to fight with nonviolence. “We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.” Martin Luther King is famous for fighting for equality using non violence.
In order to further prove that nonviolence is the way to stop racism and gain equality, Dr. King writes: “I'm grateful to God that, through the Negro church, the dimension of nonviolence entered our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, I am convinced that by now many streets of the South would be flowing with floods of blood” (). In this quote, Dr. King once again argues that non violence and peace are the best ways to stop the cycle of violence. The phrase “the dimension of nonviolence entered our struggle” shows that even though they are struggling, nonviolence can help them.
Using nonviolent resistance does not include killing off anyone that doesn’t share the same opinion, it is simply protesting to prove and persuade a need for change. Also, peacefully protesting attracts attention from all over the world; thus, educating more people about a serious issue in society. If no one takes action, no one will realize the problem and it’ll only continue to grow. Also, many political leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are extremely known for their delightful use of civil disobedience. Even better, all of them were successful in bringing about a change in society.