Civil Disobedience

In the time of the American Revolution, revolutionists like Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and Abigail Adams, has passionately voiced the ideas of equality and natural rights. Inspired by these ideas, Martin Luther king Jr. and Malcom X led a crusade for racial justice. Through their vision of justice they found the act of non-violence; civil disobedience. Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. were born around the same time. At that time, it was when the laws and the government were unjust. Laws were made for citizens to have equal rights. When those laws are not equal for all citizens there is going to be civil disobedience. The laws weren’t made equal for African Americans, and both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X wanted to fight nonviolently for those rights.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X were both the strongest speakers of their time. They both led a non violent campaign for civil disobedience. They did this by the act of parallelism. They both use the grammatical forms to express equivalent thoughts. For example Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter in Birmingham jail for his fellow clergymen. He was sent to jail because he was in a protest for civil rights. Through his letter he didn’t want his fellow people to be angry. Martin Luther King quoted “love your enemies bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” He didn’t want his fellow people to fight, he wanted them to love their enemies. When Martin Luther King wrote the letter he didn’t want the act of violence just the act of civil disobedience itself. Malcom X was another powerful speaker during his time. When Malcom X was being interviewed; crane asked if he was preaching an anarchy, Malcom responded “Oh no. I respect the government and respect the law. But does the government and law respect us?” I believe that this was a strong response. Through that response it showed that all he wanted to do was claim their respected and deserved rights. Martin Luther King and Malcom X fought for their natural rights through civil disobedience.

Everyone knows no two great men are alike. Martin Luther King was born in the middle class, while Malcom was born a no body. They both fight for the same reason, but they have different ways of doing it. Martin Luther King is fighting by civil disobedience. Kind defends his actions by drawing upon the ideas of philosophers, religious scholars, biblical figures, and political thinkers. “ I hope this letter finds you strong in faith.” Martin Luther King is a religious person, that’s what made him fight through civil disobedience without violence. He focused on the equality and goodness of man, as well as his ability to do good in the name of goodness itself. While Malcom X was a violent action kind of man, but he acted without violence and fought through civil disobedience. He was raised to hate the people who killed his father in front of his eyes, burning a cross in front of his yard. While Martin Luther King fought with goodness at his side, Malcom X fought with hate, he wanted to get back at the world that pretty much treated him unfairly.

Still in both ways, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X did fight for Civil rights. They were inspired by the passionately voiced ideas of equality and natural rights. With their own vision of justice they acted upon civil disobedience. Though they were raised in different environments, they spread their message through powerful hard-hitting speeches. Nevertheless their intentions were delivered in different styles.