Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail
10 September
In April of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama. He was charged with parading without a permit. Before being arrested, he was there supporting and leading the African-American civil rights movement. King was a man of religion, education, and also a figure for the civil rights movement in the 1900s. One of the points he expresses in his letter is the difference between a just and unjust law, a morally right law compared to a morally wrong law. A just law is a law that is morally and ethically right. King quotes St Thomas Aquinas in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail” as he describes a just law as “a manmade code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.” The arrest of MLK did not follow that code. King was not disagreeing with the fact that he was arrested for a just law. He was arguing that law enforcement officials were using the law to segregate and deny citizens the first amendment, which deals with the privilege of peaceful assembly and protest. King willingly broke the law that day because he strongly believed in what he was doing. Also, in his opinion, he believed it was a morally wrong law. …show more content…
For example, if you lived in Germany while Adolf Hitler murdered hundreds and thousands of Jews, would you have helped out a Jewish friend? Even though it was against the law to help out Jews, people still helped them knowing it was morally right. In this instance King was doing what he was doing because he also knew it was the right
In April of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama. He was charged with parading without a permit. Before being arrested, he was there supporting and leading the African-American civil rights movement. King was a man of religion, education, and also a figure for the civil rights movement in the 1900s. One of the points he expresses in his letter is the difference between a just and unjust law, a morally right law compared to a morally wrong law. A just law is a law that is morally and ethically right. King quotes St Thomas Aquinas in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail” as he describes a just law as “a manmade code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.” The arrest of MLK did not follow that code. King was not disagreeing with the fact that he was arrested for a just law. He was arguing that law enforcement officials were using the law to segregate and deny citizens the first amendment, which deals with the privilege of peaceful assembly and protest. King willingly broke the law that day because he strongly believed in what he was doing. Also, in his opinion, he believed it was a morally wrong law. …show more content…
For example, if you lived in Germany while Adolf Hitler murdered hundreds and thousands of Jews, would you have helped out a Jewish friend? Even though it was against the law to help out Jews, people still helped them knowing it was morally right. In this instance King was doing what he was doing because he also knew it was the right