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School
Athabasca University, Athabasca *
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Course
482
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
4
Uploaded by MateMole11270
LGST 482/PHIL 482 Jurisprudence
Student Name
Assignment 2 Topic: The Limits of Negative Liberty - Why Multiple Concepts of Liberty are
Necessary for True Political Freedom
Unit 7: The Rule of Law and Civil Disobedience; Part II – Civil Disobedience
Study Objective 1 & 2 which states, “Discuss whether there is a moral obligation to obey the law
or whether some civil disobedience may be morally justified,” and “Identify the key points in
Martin Luther King Jr.’s response to the Alabama clergymen. Assess the strengths and
weaknesses of these points.”
Instructor Name
Athabasca University
02
nd
June 2023
In my final essay, I will be writing a position paper on Civil Disobedience in relation to Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s (MLK) response to the eight clergymen in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. In April 1963, during a civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested and incarcerated in the city’s jail. While in jail, MLK responded to an earlier statement from eight white Alabama ministers, called “An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense.” In his letter, MLK is addressing the concerns of the eight Alabama Clergymen, who called his campaigns “ill-timed” and “ill-advised”, while explaining to them the reasons why he was in Birmingham, and the importance of his nonviolent campaign. After reading the copy of the statement of those Clergymen, my position paper will focus on supporting the values of Civil Disobedience and the relevance of it during the civil rights demonstrations in the times of MLK and to date.
Thesis: Civil disobedience can be necessary when seeking the reformation of laws that seek to oppress marginalized communities.
I will identify the key points in MLK’s letter to the Clergymen.
I will then compare them with modern civil disobedience like Black Lives Matter and Me-Too movements.
I will expand my views and support my position on the importance and relevance of civil disobedience to evoke necessary change.
Thereafter, I will assess the strengths of these points and defend my position in those responses.
Moreover, I will discuss the weaknesses that came up during the reading and indicate points for further discussion.
These views will be based mainly on the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” as well as recent years’ Civil Disobedience movements like Black Lives Matter. In abject consideration,
it is important to consider how long an oppressed minority must wait to receive justice in an effort to minimize the discomfort of the change-resistant majority. My essay is derived from the study objective for unit 7: The Rule of Law and Civil Disobedience; part II, number one and number six which states, “Discuss whether there is a moral obligation to obey the law or whether some civil disobedience may be morally justified,” and “Identify the key points in Martin Luther King Jr.’s response to the Alabama clergymen. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of these points.”
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Reference
Cornell, D. (1991). Civil Disobedience and Deconstruction. Cardozo Law Review
, 13(4): 1309–
1315. Dworkin, R. (2001). On Not Prosecuting Civil Disobedience. In J. Arthur and W.H. Shaw (Eds.), Readings in the Philosophy of Law (3rd ed.) (pp. 71–77). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen: April 12, 1963.
(1963). The Birmingham Public Library. Retrieved March 4, 2019, from
https://ibs.cru.org/index.php/download_file/view/1262/
King, M.L., Jr., and Hornsby, A., Jr. (intro.). (1986). Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963, April 16). The Journal of Negro History
, 71(1/4): 38–44. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2717650