Breaking the Law in His Essay

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Dr. King devoted considerable space in his letter to explaining the difference between just and unjust laws. He wrote that a just law is manmade but follows moral law or the law of God. Unjust laws, he wrote, are any that degrade human personality. He further stated, "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself." He could not have explained the difference any more simply or beautifully. It is essentially a restatement of the Golden Rule, whereby people are expected to treat others as they themselves would want to be treated.

Dr. King explained in the letter that breaking the law was a last resort. "It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative." Dr. King and others tried to reason with segregationist policymakers. Dr. King outlined four basic steps of a nonviolent campaign, noting that all four had been tried in Birmingham to no avail. Those seeking civil rights, who were seeking to overturn unjust laws, had to lay their case "before the conscience of the local and the national community." Dr. King cited Biblical examples as well as the horrible example of Nazi Germany, where too few were brave enough to stand up to Hitler and his unjust laws. Shortly after Dr. King's assassination, another case earned attention, that of Lt. William Calley and the massacre of women and children in the Vietnamese village of My Lai.

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Calley never denied taking part in the massacre or giving orders to his men, claiming that he was acting on orders of his superior. ("Calley apologizes, 2009). The case came to light because several soldiers under Calley's command refused to obey. By defying their commanding officer, they were breaking the law, but they were obeying a higher law. What they did was moral and just.

Dr. King wrote, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." The Supreme Court had already ruled, almost a decade earlier, in favor of desegregation with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution guaranteed African-Americans rights, which segregation laws violated. It was essential that he draw attention to the injustice.

The conclusion of Dr. King's letter was poetic and filled with hope. He spoke of the lifting of the "dark clouds of racial prejudice" and the "deep fog of misunderstanding." He expressed hope that the "radiant stars of love and brotherhood" would soon shine over the nation. As we now know, Dr. King's civil disobedience did call attention to the unjust laws that sought to continually oppress African-Americans. He needed to break the law so that justice could be served......

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