These pacifists knew that the only way to stop their prosecutors is by standing up to them. Mahatma Gandhi unlike most of the Indian community wanted to stand up to Great Britain. In passive resistance he called it a “weapon of weak men”. Gandhi believed that the way to stop the prosecution of his people was by civil disobedience. Lastly, Henry David Thoreau implemented civil disobedience by boycotting taxes in rebellion to the Mexican-American War.
If his father had not been a minister, Martin Luther King’s critical thinking process would have been different from the Dr. King that we know today. Dr. King’s visions of a society where black and white live side by side without segregation and racism. This idea however has many problems a majority of conservative or liberal white oppose the end segregation. The government made many attempt to dissuade Martin Luther King through threatening letters, allegation of adultery, and many other tactics. He was accused of having ties to the communist government and was under federal
The Mexican War is taking place which Thoreau utilizes to demonstrate how the government “abuses” their powers. Boldly but surprisingly, Thoreau does not just criticize the government, he criticizes the people too, with the fact that they have a tendency of not taking initiative to rebel against the government immediately and individually. He says “Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they
In attempting to answer the thesis stated above one will begin by evaluating the political advocacy of King and Malcolm X. King's advocacy derives from a sentiment of political activity without collective cooperation towards violence. He fought against the system defiantly but not in the same way one would suppose. He was a supporter of non-violent sit-ins and other forms of political movements that were purposely targeted towards a united state. Malcolm X on the other hand was less idealistic
King points out, “I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all” (218). An unjust law, to Martin Luther King Jr., is not a law that people should follow. Martin Luther King Jr. disobeyed the laws and protested did sit-ins and even spoke against the white people. Although he felt he was exercising his right to freedom of speech, everyone else felt he was breaking the laws by speaking out and not obeying the segregated areas. This led to the assassination of King in
While theoretically honorable, the United States was repeatedly overstepping democratic principles in order to secure financial interests and was, in some cases supporting totalitarian regimes as long as those regimes bowed to the the United States' economic interests. Because of this, the United States needed to find a way to continue its quest for profit without looking like the bad guy. To do this, the United States needed to produce an enemy so evil that the United States would appear justified regardless of the methods they used to fight to defeat it. The United States found this enemy in communism and McCarthy's fanatical rants were the perfect way to spread this fear. Despite relentless investigations with almost unchallenged jurisdiction, however, McCarthy did not uncover a communist plot (Halbertstam, 58) yet did manage to assist in convincing the American people that communists were a threat to the American way of life and the government was justified in any means necessary to defeat communism even if it meant sacrificing "some of their nation's freedoms" (Halbertstam,
Martin Luther King once stated in his book, “Stride Toward Freedom”, “Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people”. In his mind he was certain we wouldn’t get anywhere with violence. “The whites were colonized. They were fed up with this taxation without representation” (Digital History, Malcolm X). In this quote Malcolm X expresses how he was aware of why the American Revolution was fought.
A quarter of a million people of all races from all over the country traveled to Washington, D.C. to protest discrimination. This act led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A charismatic leader and an excellent orator, Martin Luther King,Jr., begged his followers to employ nonviolent methods of protest. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his work. It was a fitting tribute to a true hero of the times.
Martin Luther King Jr. Widely considered the most influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He fought to overturn Jim Craw segregation laws and eliminate social and economic differences between blacks and whites. Born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Middle child of Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King.
While Staples didn’t experience segregation firsthand, he was being stereotyped by non-colored people. Staples justifies here “Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal (386).” As you can see he advocated a form of violence of stereotypes towards himself. He allows violence to be inflicted in himself. King advocated nonviolent resistance in the face of discrimination and violence. King fights to stop injustice by using nonviolence.