Civil Disobedience As A Response To Apathy
Racial equality has been a highly charged issue throughout the history of the United States of America. During the 1960’s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., rose to prominence as the premier spokesperson for the civil rights movement, demanding an end to the de facto segregation that existed in defiance of constitutional, and in his opinion moral, law. Nonviolent civil disobedience was the technique of choice for King and his supporters as they attempted to force the established power structure into negotiating the abolition of unjust laws. Jailed in 1963 for participating in one such “direct action” in Birmingham, Alabama, King used his time in prison to pen “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, a measured response to fellow clergymen critical of his actions as untimely threats to order. Repeatedly expressing his disappointment with the apathy of the “white moderate” in his letter, King proves the necessity of direct action to overcome this apathy and achieve true racial equality.King characterizes the white moderate as one “more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice” (189), and therefore as one incognizant of the reason that society establishes the rule of law. Mo
Triumph over the inertia of the white moderates is presented as crucial to the cause of true racial equality, because their numeric majority represents a potential power majority. Even a cause based on written law and moral imperatives is lost without the sanction of those in a position of choice. Throughout “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King demonstrates direct action in the form of civil disobedience as a logical and effective method to create an atmosphere conducive to change while preserving moral integrity. King also characterizes the white moderate as believing that, given enough time, segregation will end of its own accord. He points out, however, that “Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability” (190), and that despite superficial advances in the elimination of segregation, real improvement has not been realized through the slow passage of time. On the contrary, it has, in fact, spawned a wave of increasing frustration on the part of many in the black community that threatens to break in a flood of violence. The system of racial inequality has been conscientiously enforced by a few, and has stood for as long as it has because of a lack o
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Approximate Word count = 797
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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