Martin Luther King, Jr.
When I was in high school, I took an elective class called “American Law” — basically a “civics” class with a different name. In mid January, my class’s teacher asked if any of us had plans for celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. If I remember correctly, none of us did. For us, MLK Day was just an excuse to miss school for a day.
For my teacher, however, MLK Day was special. Every year he and his wife spent part of the holiday reading and discussing “Letter from Birmingham Jail” — one of MLK’s most famous pieces of writing — with their church group. He also used this tradition as a teaching exercise for “American Law”: he had our class read a few excerpts of “Letter” then we had a class discussion about what we read.
As a bit of background, MLK wrote “Letter” while locked in Birmingham, Alabama’s city jail for his participation in the Birmingham campaign of nonviolent direct action to end the city’s policy of racial segregation. “Letter” was written as a response to eight Alabama clergymen who criticized the use of civil disobedience. MLK famously responded that “there are two types of laws: There are just laws and there are unjust laws.” Furthermore, he argued that individuals have both a right and a duty to oppose unjust laws with nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action.
I’d like to pass my teacher’s exercise on to Cop Block readers. Next Monday is MLK Day. If you have enough free time, I challenge you to read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and to read it with a few questions in mind. Was MLK right — do people have the right to violate unjust laws? Are there any unjust laws in effect today? Are any of them serious enough to warrant using the sort of nonviolent civil disobedience practiced by MLK and the countless others who worked to end racial segregation?
Better yet, don’t just read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” alone. Share it with a family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker, etc. Instead of just thinking about these questions alone, open up a dialogue.
I designed e-book and pamphlet versions of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” based on this public domain version of the text. For directions on printing and assembling the pamphlet version, see this guide.
E-book: .pdf format
Pamphlet: .pdf format
Great Post I never really paid attention in history. But now I love it. I will read it. Thanks for all the work you guys do getting the word out that not all laws are just. For instance all the driving laws in Cali.
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES HAS AN ARTICLE ON NEW CA MOTOR VEHICLE FINES: “FLOORING IT ON CAR FINES”
…Traffic Ticket Fines (Effective 01/06/2011)
VC 12814.6 $214 Failure to obey license provisions.
VC 14600(A) $214 Failure to notify DMV of address change within 10 days
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 16028(A) $796 Failure to provide evidence of financial responsibility (insurance)
Note: This fine may be reduced with proof of insurance on or after the violation date.
VC 21453(A) $436 Failure to stop at a red signal.
VC 22349 $214 Unsafe speed, 1 to 15 miles over the limit.
VC 22350 $328 Unsafe speed, 16 to 25 miles over the limit.
VC 22450 $214 Failure to stop at a stop sign.
VC 22454(A) $616 Passing a school bus with flashing red signals.
VC 23123(A) $148 Driving while using a wireless phone not hands free, first offense .
I know someone who got this and it ending up being $274
VC 23123(B) $256 Driving while using a wireless phone not hands free, each subsequent offense.
VC 23123.5 $148 Driving while using a wireless device to send, read or write text.
VC 23124 $148 Minor driving while using a wireless phone.
VC 22500 $976 Parking in a bus loading area.
VC 22507(A) $976 Violation of disabled parking provisions, first offense.
VC 22507(B) $1876 Violation of disabled parking provisions, second offense.
VC 26708 $178 Unlawful material on vehicle windows.
VC 27150 $178 Adequate muffler required.
VC 27315 $148 Mandatory use of seat belts.
VC 27360 $436 Mandatory use of passenger child restraints.
Note: This fine may be reduced by completing a court authorized child seat diversion program .
VC 27400 $178 Headsets or Earplugs covering both ears.
VC 27803 $178 Violation of motorcycle safety helmet requirements.
VC 34506 $616 Commercial Driver – Log book violation.
VC 4000 $256 No evidence of current registration.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 4159 $178 Notify DMV of change of address within 10 days.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 5200 $178 Proper display of license plates.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction.
VC 9400 $178 Commercial weight fees due.
Note: The fine may be reduced with valid proof of correction Look out for the money grabbers in Sacramento but don‘t blame the cops.
California needs money, so pay close attention to the rules of the road!
“Was MLK right — do people have the right to violate unjust laws?”
Pfft. *Of* *course* people have the right to violate unjust laws. I’ve taught my kids for years, now, *the* most important thing in life:
You own yourself.
Unfortunately, when you violate invalid laws, you risk running afoul of sociopathic control freaks and rabid sycophants who will kidnap, harm, and maybe kill you because they are so stupid that they believe something scribbled on a piece of paper relieves them from their primary duty as a human:
Discriminate right from wrong, and act accordingly.
At a minimum, they’ll drag you into a mess where you’re compelled to finance their persecution of you.
I don’t think Martin would approve.
this type of writing is disguised state worship, however unintentional. if i attempted to rob you and you resisted, would you call that resistance “civil disobedience”? of course not. the very term places the state in a fantastic class it created for itself.
the state is hooliganism. pretending that pissing on hooliganism’s up for debate is scarily absurd.
@Charley – I don’t think the matter is up to debate for Dr. Q. It is not up to debate in my mind. Nevertheless, it is very much up to debate by much of society, whether we like it or not. Society is filled with ranks of people who believe “the law is the law!” and that until it can be changed, it must be obeyed. Thus, I don’t think this piece is “disguised state worship” so much as a genuine call for debate.
“Society is filled with ranks of people who believe “the law is the law!” and that until it can be changed, it must be obeyed.”
The same moron mentality that allowed 6 million jews to be stuffed into an oven. Unjust laws need to be disobeyed the SECOND they are passed, not passively followed with hand wringing and talk about how “we can change this by voting for X political party”. Hows the Patriot act doing?( http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/congress-quietly-prepares-renew-patriot-act/ ) Did that tactic work for ya?
so often forgotten that tyranny begins with language. use of the term “civil disobedience” in a non-quoting, primary manner is state worship/deference — perhaps unconscious —, as explained above. “civil disobedience” is, “apologize for acting up, sir, but i just had to, y’know. ordinarily, i’d obey. when we get things straight, you’ll be master again without caveat. but watch yourself!”
that’s a stance one would never take with a non-state hooligan. is someone here seriously defending the primary use of the term “civil disobedience” for any interaction with the state? assuming language of brainwashed slaves (e.g., “my taxes”) is a poor start.
Great post. I urge to celebrate MLK day on Monday by disobeying an unjust law (after you read the letter and are property motivated) and then let us know about it at:
http://idisobeyedanunjustlaw.com/
The letter is also available at http://idisobeyedanunjustlaw.com/letter where you can read it, discuss it and download this same PDF.
Happy Disobedience!
Thanks for the reminder, CopBlock!
It is time to apply widespread civil disobedience against American governments and their broken family law and “child protection” systems. These systems reward child abuse and perpetuate it, costing millions of children not just peace of mind and one or both of their parents but also lifetimes of suffering from depressions, substance abuse, and mental health problems.
America rewards perjury and false accusations. For instance, false accusations against a parent of child sexual abuse is widespread in divorces and child custody battles in the United States. The falsely accused often lose his or her freedom, contact with the children, jobs, homes, and any ability to live a happy life. The children lose a good parent who cared about them. The judges, lawyers, and CPS workers all make money from this sort of crime. Perhaps that is why they refuse to do anything about it.
People who care about children and families should be seeking out the means to widely engage in civil disobedience against American governments that encourage and reward the crimes of parental alienation and harassment via false allegations. Just like the problems that MLK fought against, these problems will not be fixed unless the public and government are forced to face the evil being done across the nation.
Isn’t it amazing how two of the best social change initiators in history – Martin Luther King, and Gandhi – were non-violent.