Today, the use of peaceful resistance is rare. Today, many protests end in violence. Today, people are losing their lives because they see no other way to fight for what they believe in. We, as a people, have forgotten that we cannot allow history to repeat itself. Historians have learned a lesson and for this reason, we must learn from them as well. Icons that are forever remembered in America's history did not go down without a fight. They weren't remembered for leading violent protests, for approaching an ordeal with their fists, or for harboring uncontrollable anger. They used peace. They used silence, which said more than the spewing of angry calamity. The use of peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society and it has been proven many times. Everyone knows the names of Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther, Chavez, and thousands of others. Even names that are hardly spoken by lips have created an impact. All of which have been positive to forming our society to what it is today. …show more content…
Gandhi received his inspiration from Thoreau's essay, "Civil Disobedience" which led to his influential belief of "non-violently refusing to cooperate with injustice." After having been jailed multiple times, he also fought for independence for India. However, India was divided into two; Gandhi fasted until they became unified, but was killed shortly after. Although all of these influential changes have been made, our work is not done. Not all of these issues are solved and many of which we still struggle with. The world is tired. Tired of violence and one-time solutions. Tired of having people who have hate in their hearts, who think that the best decision is to fight violence with violence. To riot, to be part of something. As the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do
Mohandas Gandhi was a non-violent promoter for Indian independence.He was married young at 13,and went to London to go to law school.Gandhi got his degree there and was on his way to being a lawyer.He went to his first case,but couldn't even speak. Gandhi then got invited to South Africa from a businessman. Gandhi’s luck their was no good either.European racism came to him,after he got kicked off of a train,because he was “colored” and was holding a first class ticket.When Gandhi fought back because of it,was arrested and was sent to jail.After this, he became know as as a leader.Gandhi returned to India in 1896,and he was disgusted by it.British wanted them to wear their clothes,copy their manners,accept their standards of beauty,but Gandhi refused.Gandhi wanted people to live free of all class and wealth.Gandhi tried so hard and was more successful then any other man in India.They won independence in 1947. Gandhi’s non-violent movement worked because,Gandhi used clever planning, mass appeal, conviction, and compassion to win independence for India.
For many years the Black community were appalled with segregation. There was widespread segregation across the south from restaurants to swimming pools. The whole “separate but equal” mentality wasn’t working so people took it upon themselves to try and fix this problem.
The mission of Gandhi’s life was to help the people of India free themselves from British rule. Many people have struggled for independence. They have fought bloody battles or used terrorism in an attempt to achieve their goals. Gandhi’s revolution was different. He succeeded as an independence leader with the use of nonviolent methods. The young Mohandas Gandhi did not seem as a boy that would become a great leader. He changed as he studied in Britain and practiced in South Africa. He fought for the rights of Indians in both South Africa and India. Gandhi believed that all people in the world are brothers and sisters. He didn’t hate the English. Actually, he saw a lot that was good about them. His nonviolent means of revolution was referred to as satyagraha, which is a combination of two Sanskrit words, satya, meaning truth and love, plus agraha, meaning firmness. Many people were influenced by satyagraha.
Civil disobedience was key in the pursuit of equality for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Through forms of peaceful protest, African Americans were able to bring to light the socio-economic inequalities they faced and forced the government and general public to do something about it. Sit-ins, one method of practicing civil disobedience, took root in the early 1960s and quickly became a popular and effective form of peaceful protest. James Baldwin makes a very brief note of sit-ins in his essay “Down at the Cross”. Its brief mention is probably due to the time at which the essay was written, just before sit-ins became a national phenomenon. At first glance, one may think that Baldwin doesn‘t think much change will happen from the sit-in movement. However, the urgency to take immediate action as described in his essay hints toward sit-ins as being a possible solution to ending discrimination in public spaces.
Times were looking up for African Americans, their new freedom gave them the option to go down a road of either criminal actions or to make something out of themselves. But the presence of racism and hatred was still very much so alive, Klu Klux Klan, although not as strong as they were after the Civil War was still present. Laws like Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” came into play and continued to show how racism was alive. Besides these actors of racism, blacks still started gaining a major roll in American society.
During the civil rights struggle in the late1950s it became apparent that those who supported segregation would go to any length in order to maintain the status quo. Until then, many whites in the 1940s believe blacks were content with the way things were (Shmoop). For the first time, the nation would come face to face to the reality of the violence that African Americans faced on a daily basis. The Brown v. Board of Education decision was a major victory for the civil rights movement. It showed momentum for desegregation in the Jim Crow south. After school integration, it was only a matter of time before Jim Crow laws would be challenged and overturned everywhere.
The Civil Rights Movement was a series of actions that really peaked in the 1960's. These political actions were aimed at gaining rights for African Americans. However, there were two ways of going about the movement. There were ones who protested peacefully, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and others who wanted a more pro-active way of fighting, like the black-rights activist Malcolm X. However, which way was more proactive? Even though both had great intentions, Dr. Martin Luther King had a better way of trying to achieve rights for the African American community.
Through the analysis of writings from Sojourner Truth, Henry David Thoreau, Ronald Reagan, Gandhi, and Don’t Know Much About History; we can visibly see how important these writings and historical figures were, they gave a voice to those who had none. They rose up against social mores and norms to fight oppression, even if it meant putting themselves in danger. We should all take a few moments to look back and honour these men and women who changed our world for the better.
From the onset of man fighting for freedom or his beliefs, the question has always been whether one person can make a difference using words rather than wars. Philosophically, the concept of civil disobedience would appear to be an ineffective weapon against political injustice; history however has proven it to repeatedly be one of the most powerful weapons of the common man. Martin Luther King Jr. looked at the way African Americans were treated in the United States and saw an inequality. By refusing to pay his taxes and subsequently being imprisoned for a night, Henry David Thoreau demonstrated his intolerance for the American government. Under British rule, India remained oppressed until Mohandas Gandhi, with his doctrine of non-violence lead the country to freedom.
The Southern and Northern Blacks had very different views, aims and. background. The sand is a sand. They had different views and aims because of their different experiences of segregation and their different perceptions. of White Americans themselves, he said.
The vast majority of uprisings by the oppressed against their persecutor end in blood shed and great human suffering. If we lived in a utopia everyone would adopt passive resistance to escape persecution, but we do not live in a utopia and everyone cannot adopt passive resistance. Mahatma Gandhi popularized and defined the concept as an alternative to brute-force as a means of resistance. During the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. utilized passive resistance in order to fight back against discrimination against African Americans. Viktor Frankl, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, writes about the effectiveness of passive resistance, while George Orwell, in his essay Reflections on Gandhi, condemns it. Although, in theory the
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that sometimes laws were unjust. In these cases, King would first attempt negotiating with those who were proponents for the unjust issues or laws. If the negotiations were found to be unsuccessful, King would arrange non violent direct action. Antigone on the other hand, didn’t attempt negotiations, she believed that in certain cases, civil disobedience was necessary, and would do whatever was necessary to do her part of doing what she felt was just.
Civil rights can be defined as the rights for individuals to receive equality. This equality includes the right to equal jobs, justice, the right to be free from harsh treatment and discrimination from the whites in various ways. These rights include education, voting rights, employment, same sex marriages, housing, and many more. Civil rights include gay and lesbian rights, women rights to vote and hold positions in offices, African- Americans and Hispanics as well. Looking at it from a historically, the civil rights movement is the fights, protest, and demonstrations all in a non-violent form by African-Americans to achieve equality amongst whites. Today, civil rights can be used to describe the call for equality for all people regardless of culture, race, sex, age, disability, national origin, religion, or certain other characteristics.
Gandhi is motivated by religious means; he believes that everyone is equal in God’s eyes. He gets involved in several movements for equality, and he stresses non-violence very strongly. The Indians are very mad because British rule continues to limit their rights. They are supposed to all get fingerprinted, and their marriage laws are invalid. Gandhi’s followers vow to fight their oppressors to the death, but he discourages them from violence.
“The strongest physical force bends before moral force when used in the defense of truth.” - Mahatma Gandhi (Bondurant). Mahatma Gandhi was the main leader in helping India become independent through the principles of non violence, self-rule, and the unity of Hindus and Muslims. His full name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but he was given the name Mahatma later on in his life. He wanted to see an united India without the rule of the British Empire. He accomplished this with passive resistance or resistance by non violence because he wanted to show that violence is not always the best answer.