Civil Disobedience: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In the course of human history, countless rulers and authorities have refused to administer freedom to their people. Untold populations have been taken advantage of and denied personal liberties. This is seen through the Middle Ages’ institution of serfdom, the monarchs of the Age of Absolutism, the oppressive regimes of the 21st century, and many others. To overcome such injustice, it is vital that oppressed persons refuse to be subjugated. Through the act of civil disobedience, this necessary action is achieved, and is thus the catalyst of free society. The most recognizable executor of civil disobedience is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King’s actions in resisting the oppression of African Americans in the 1960s are widely regarded as

After the controversial election of US President Trump, many people have been utilizing civil disobedience to express their indignation. This is shown specifically by the response to Trump’s executive order restricting immigration from certain countries affiliated with Islam. According to the Huffington Post, “Saturday [February 4, 2017] marked the third straight weekend in which Washington was the site of anti-Trump demonstrations.” The citizens who protest this do so based on their sense of what is right. They profess that power does not necessarily imply a sense of justice. This is echoed in Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, in which he insists there are flaws with the principle of majority rule. He asserts that if the majority takes the rest of the country in the wrong direction, there must be action by the minority to correct it. This is when civil disobedience becomes necessary to secure

This argument is commonly centered on the conviction that citizens cannot justify breaking laws they simply do not agree with. Morris Leibman, in “Civil Disobedience: A Threat to Our Law Society”, argues this by stating, “[freedom] exists only within the confines of the necessary restrain­ing measures of society.” In other words, Leibman believes that certain constraints are necessary in order to create and reinforce freedom and liberty. This is a rational point, echoing the Enlightenment concept of the Social Contract: the theory that people, when living in a society, must forfeit certain liberties to gain others. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in The Social Contract, states, “Conventions and laws are … needed to join rights to duties and refer justice to its object.” By this, he means that, to maintain a level or order and, thus, justice in a society, laws must be created and followed. However, Rousseau also declares that “to renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.” This shows that though laws are essential to the success of a society, they cannot impede liberty. Such an act removes the humanity of the