Protests Against Iconoclasts
...ough most situations should be dealt with through the legal system in this day and age and therefore acts of civil disobedience should not be necessary. However, looking back to situations of the past, this was not always true, even in a free democracy such as America. It took men like Martin Luther King Jr. to show us that not all unjust matters could be settled in the court room. Although there are still some biased opinions and racist feelings, the judiciary system of the United States has improved in recent years. It is true that crimes committed against minorities often go unreported or unsolved while it seems as though crimes against the affluent white community are given much more attention, but the poorer communities are beginning to see an outreaching hand from surrounding groups such as American Civil Liberties Union. Unlike the oppressed of a few decades ago, minority groups such as African Americans and women have attained more rights and a more powerful say in how the country is run. Through demonstrations such as protest, sit-ins and boycotting of goods, these groups were able to voice their power and opinion so that they were able to gain a vote in the legal system. However there is a certain level of myopia among some people and they fail to see the darker side of our “great and patriotic” system. There is, in reality, a distinct possibility that individuals and groups are not getting the respect they deserve, and acts of civil disobedience remain their only means to get their message out to the world.
Similar to the residents of Birmingham, the right of all Americans to equal living and justice can be hampered by the evil undertones of others in higher political positions. As Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, “Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered,”(King 18). A fair chance to address the situation through the legal system is not always a possibility, and as result people are drawn to an alternative course of action. Action like that of Martin Luther King when he was arrested in Birmingham for parading without a permit, a requirement he believes is used to deny African Americans their First Amendment rights to peaceful assembly and protest. There are times when civil disobedience is necessary to get the message of justice across in a society where unjust living may seem like it is the norm. As former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis once said, “If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable,” (