Non Violent Protest - Dr. Martin Luther King's Moral Disobedience!

Varsha Chawdhary

Prof. Hughes

Eng 101 Section 811

13th October 2005

Non violent protest - Dr. Martin Luther King's moral disobedience!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the issue of non-violence in his letter from Birmingham Jail. He states that any law, which is unjust and inhuman, is not a moral law. Dr. King's argument for non-violent protest against the authorities is just and moral; because any action taken for the greater good of human beings may be called disobedience by the authorities, but as Erich Fromm states in his essay "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem" -- any act of disobedience against any inhuman law of the state is morally correct and is for the betterment of the human kind. King advocates nonviolence as the only moral way of protest, even though authorities may term it as disobedience, it is an act of obedience according to the human law as stated by Erich Fromm in his essay.

Martin Luther King's letter which was written in April 16, 1963, is an emotional letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro-black American organization about his and his organization's non -- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham. King writes the letter to defend his organization's actions and the letter is also an appeal to the people, both the white and black American society, the social, political, and religious community, and the whole of American society to encourage desegregation, solidarity and equality among all Americans, with no stratification's according to racial differences. King addressed these communities as the primary groups wherein racial segregation is continuously growing (the white American political and religious community) and points much of his arguments to and for his fellow black Americans in the society. King's main argument in writing the Birmingham letter is that, racial segregation, or injustice to the black American society, is due to the continuous encouragement of the white American society, particularly the powerful communities in politics and religions. The response that he is looking for in his letter is agreement and appeal for the part of the white American society to abolish segregation and discontinue the injustices happening to his fellow black Americans, while King appeals to his black American fellowmen for unity and solidarity, which is an essential factor for their cause to be achieved, that is; "the prevention and eventual abolishment of racial prejudice, inequality, and injustice."

Dr. King says "A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God." Dr. King is a man who believes in the law of the country and the law of the church. He does not believe in violent action or any form of violence as correct, since it endangers human life; and any kind of law or action, which is harmful or unjust to human beings anywhere, is an unjust law. The just law is a law, which believes in equality, does not distinguish between people by color, religion, status, position, age or money. Any law, which uplifts human personality, is a just law and one has a moral responsibility to obey a just law. Fromm's theory agrees with this view in his essay where he uses the terms "authoritarian conscience" and "humanistic conscience." According to him, "authoritarian conscience is an internalized voice of authority inside every human being, whom they are eager to please and afraid of displeasing." This voice is the internalized commands and prohibitions of the figure of authority that every person has grown up with and are trained to follow without questioning the same. Different from the authoritarian conscience is the "humanistic conscience"; this is the voice which is present in every human being and is independent from external sanctions and rewards." This conscience is based on the fact that every human being has an intuitive knowledge of what is human and inhuman, what is conducive and what is destructive of life. According to Fromm "this is the voice which calls us back to humanity." The term "humanistic conscience" used by Fromm is the same as what King calls the moral law, since the purpose of the moral law is to protect and aid the progress of the human being. King and Fromm both have the same ideology that someone who breaks the law because their conscience tells them it is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of punishment in order to get the attention of the community over the injustice is in reality showing his highest respect for the law.

Dr. King believes and advocates non-violent protest as the best way to get the message across to the authorities on the issues of segregation, unequal treatment of African-American people, from the white people in the country. His argument states the reason very clearly in his statement that "Non-violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue." King placates fellow civil rights leaders by explaining his actions, and why they were necessary for the overall good of the cause. King emphasizes the stubbornness of the local government, and their unwillingness to grant rights and liberties to African Americans despite the fact they are specifically enumerated in the Constitution. King writes, "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights." He reasons that the non-violent way of protest was the only way to protest, otherwise;