Civil Disobedience and It's Effects on Our Society.
To uphold the standards of living in our culture, we as citizens are asked to make laws and decisions to better our society. However, often times the laws and decision that we make limit one group in our society thus making us a culture that has several different types of laws. According to Martin Luther King, in his piece, Letter From Birmingham Jail, written on April 16, 1963, there are two types of laws that exist today in our society. There is a just law, one that is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This law seems fair to many in our society, and many believe that it is the code under which we should live by. However, while many hold this view, few still side with the unjust law, one that is a numerical code or power majority group compels and minority group to obey but does not make it binding on itself.
During the time that Dr. King wrote this piece, our country was in chaos as the south was suppressing it's black community by placing these sorts of unjust laws on their citizens. This time saw blacks being forced to sit in the back of buses, drink from their own water fountains, being publicly humiliated in front of citizens as they were turned away from restaurants and other facilities that clearly stated no color people would be allowed to enter their premises. While many of the adults understood these practices, it was their children that were most affected by this segregation. For example, as King stated in the text, "you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children." (p. 659). While this example of segregation and civil disobedience is regarded by many to a be a movement of the past, it clearly still exists today in our society, and in my opinion, having two types of laws which govern us creates chaos, anger and resentment is our society.