Fight For Your Right

Fight ForYour Right

By Tierney Hughes

In the twentieth century, Martin Luther King Jr. (1929)1968) emerged from the lower class of society, and became one of the most influential civil rights leader in the United States. King promoted non-violent protests in the late fifties, to fight for equal rights for the African American culture. He wanted all races to get along, and he wanted equality for all. Certain laws prohibited equality among races from happening. Moral and immoral laws exist throughout government. King wanted everyone, black and white, to open their eyes, and acknowledge the injustice countered by the government ruling. Ideally, laws are made to help a country not tear it apart. Laws were made for the good of the people, but for some, laws prove to be unjust and immoral.

In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King writes to his fellow clergymen in regards to their criticism on King's actions. The clergymen disapproved of King's behavior. King is the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization that is managed in every Southern state to help promote equal rights for the black community. He was asked, along with fellow followers, to arrive at Birmingham, and act in a non-violent direct action. The non-violent direct action was to gather fellow SCLCs, and walk down the streets of Birmingham to promote equal rights for all races. The clergymen feel that King acted "unwise and untimely" in his present behavior. He wants to explain his actions, because they are clergymen who follow God's law. Injustice has brought King to Birmingham, and injustice has locked him up. He expresses his view on government, giving examples of moral and immoral laws.

Blacks broke many laws, because most laws singled the minorities out. The Supreme Court's decision of nineteen fifty-four is thought of as a moral law from King's perspective, because it outlawed segregation in public schools. This law would allow both white and black races to interact with one another, hopefully allowing the whites to accept the black community. This act respected the law of God, because it created equality amongst men. Morality was the bases of the nineteen fifty-four verdict. The nineteen fifty-four decision was a big step in transforming government law. Blacks would be able to attend schools of their choice, and obtain an equal education. Merging two races together had a risk of a chaos factor. White and blacks, initially, do not get along. King looked at the decision and considered the choice moral, because God's law was present. Moral laws are hard to come by, and King fought for the very few moral laws that existed.

King considered a majority of the laws immoral, because they promoted a practice that degrades human personality. Segregation alters the soul, and harms the personality. Segregation gives the white men and women a sense of power over the blacks. An inferior personality would overcome the black men and women, much like slavery. King uses Paul Tillich's definition of segregation by saying, "...sin is separation." Separation from the majority causes the minority to become thought of as inferior beings. King explains his theories with the everyday occurrences he encounters. Black men and women follow these unjust laws, because they listen to the white men and women. King was arrested for parading without a permit. King believes an ordinance for owning a permit is not unjust, but it is unjust when the ordinance is used to sustain segregation. King does not wish to disobey any moral law. He