Civil Disobedience In The United States

The term “civil disobedience” is also known as non-cooperation, resistance, or protest. These words are used in powerful actions and speeches that have a huge impact on our free society. They allow at an individual or group level to express ourselves and what we believe to be right or just. Over the last three decades here in the United States there seems to be trend of increasing unrest within the country. Groups such as the Occupation Movement, Oil Pipeline protests and Tea Party have started small. Undercurrents within a society always seem to be in flux and moving back and forth. The Tea Party though is a great example of something starting small and gaining traction that ultimately moved the nation to a more conservative outlook. The other interesting thing is that in prior decades much of civil disobedience happened locally with mass marches. The Internet age allows for a much more passive approach to civil

In fact you could say that this movement started at the birth of this nation and continues today. This movement was also known as the Civil Rights Movement. At first, African Americans would hold series of silence protests and marches with intentions of civil disobedience. The act of positive influence took a turn when physical violence was added. Racial violence, including hosing down and beating protesters. It no longer was civil and brought a negative consequence into society. As Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his I Have a Dream speech, “We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” King was aware of the impact of physical violence and the negative significance it had on society. Not only did the word civil get taken out of civil disobedience, the violence will forever be