September 20, 2011 Civil Rights Movement and the “Intent to Harm” Michael Nagler defines violence as “the intention to harm.” He goes on to state that violence is a human phenomenon that does not consist in action but in desire, “the wanting to hurt others.” Martin Luther King Jr. would not agree with this definition. According to his ideas in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he blames the violence on the power structure and the status quo of segregation that was present during the 1960s. King advocates nonviolent direct action towards the unjust laws of segregation which in turn brings out hidden tension as well as creates new tension. This tension will help the “white moderate” understand the evil problems that segregation causes and hopefully change their perspective on the issue. The white moderate believes that you should follow every law no matter it be just or unjust, whereas all laws making segregation legal are considered unjust, in order to hide from tension and keep order in the community.
The privileged group, the 1%, does not want to give up power and change specific (tax) laws or wealth distribution to implement drastic change in the country. In his letter, which is written from jail, Dr. King states that, “we know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”. This idea was evident during the times of the Civil Rights movement, and it is parallel today in the Occupy movement. The protestors are out in the streets demanding for their voices to be heard, to have a fair shake, and to influence positive change in the lives of the 99% of citizens in this country who are suffering at the hands of the most
Also, they were humiliated and demoralized in the name of national security. This fight against such ill-practices can only be fought when there will be more respect for the human race universally, in the socio-political system, and accepting all people equally. Right to Human Rights, such as oppression of discrimination, can only be achieved when all citizens will stand together globally to protect its fellow citizens of their stated rights. This essay will show how different groups of people were and are discriminated, stereotyped, interrogated and humiliated depriving them of their basic human rights, such as equality, freewill and freedom. In the 19th century, the
Sometime in life, others will use us without our own consent and we might not even know that we’re being used. In the book A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, chapter thirteen-the “Freemen”, Mark Twain describes a group of folks who are being treat like slaves without acknowledge it on their own. The main character Hank Morgan thinks that every man in the nation should have true freedom, the right to vote, and education. On the other hand, these freemen think differently, they believe that working for the church or the King is the right and only thing to do. They never have a doubt about the governance, the system.
Right to Revolution What follows is an excerpt from John Locke's Second Treatise (1694). §222. The Reason why Men enter into Society, is the preservation of their Property; and the end why they chuse and authorize a Legislative, is, that there may be Laws made, and Rules set as Guards and Fences to the Properties of all the Members of the Society, to limit the Power, and moderate the Dominion of every Part and Member of the Society. For since it can never be supposed to be the Will of the Society, that the Legislative should have a Power to destroy that which every one designs to secure, by entering into Society, and for which the People submitted t hemselves to Legislators of their own making; whenever the Legislators endeavour to
After all, don’t we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “(An) injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Proposition 8’s prejudice is a threat to the entire American legal system and its ideas of equality and hope. God knows we don’t want that
“All men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective government in which\ they reside . Which protected in their inherant and inalienable rights by the laws of such government: and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protect, and should be punished accordingly. And that all governments have a right to enact such judgements are best calculated to secure the public interest. Ay the same time , however,holding sacred the freedom of conscience. “No government can exist in peace , except such laws are framed and held in violate as well secure to each person the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of life.”The most important single function of government is to secure the rights are not and freedoms of each and every citizen.
As both Danforth and the judges oppress over him, Proctor cannot bring himself to sign, and ultimately leads himself to his own death. “How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 133) In saying this, Proctor emphasizes the emotional strain which people were brought under during the trials. The reluctancy of Proctor to sign away his name allows him to make a much greater impact on the trials, and ultimately serve as a martyr against the corrupt system. The belief that people should not have to lie is one which comes up a lot in Proctor’s life.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, characters including Scout and Bob Ewell all have ignorance that showed what they did not know about their surrounding and the knowledge they knew about people in Maycomb County. The message of this novel is to understand the world that we live in and accept what was given to you and to judge people by their actions and not to exaggerate the negative aspects in life as in not to "Judge the color of their skin, but by their character." - Martin Luther
Miller said that, “there were moments when and individual conscience was all that could keep the world from falling apart”. I agree with Miller’s belief in the concept of the individual’s conscience and its influence on surrounding society. In the play Miller shows how people act in the face of mass hysteria and fear. Anyone who would like to keep on living and not get sent off to the gallows would say anything, accuse anyone and not look back once. In the play Miller has set it in Salem during the witch trials which were brutal and scary.