Free Essay Example on the Right to Disobey the Police and Break Laws

The English dictionary defines Law-breaking as any activity that is evaluated to be against the laws of a particular country or region or its any illegal activity. Civil disobedience either violently or non-violently is also considered as intentional lawbreaking, and those individuals who are found to be lawbreakers are taken to court where their judgment is made based on their actions and how the law states. Disobeying the police is considered as a form of civil disobedience since the police are given the authority by the law to make decisions that would ensure the safety of everyone hence maintaining order. Therefore, disobeying their requests is considered breaking the law and may result in one being taken to court according to the law.

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For me I tend to differ with this claim and the reason is because the police are rational human beings like any other humans, and human beings made the law they manage to maintain and after analyzing the nature of human beings I discovered that no one is perfect in what he/she does and therefore the lawmakers may have made a mistake in specific points of the law and also the police themselves may make wrong decisions which I am not supposed to take after I have discovered they are not right and continue with what is generally accepted across borders and cultures to be morally right.

According to people's inherited moral tradition, those who disobeyed the law in any country were gratefully honored and examples include the Christian martyrs who refused to obey the law by Romans to worship the Roman Emperor also Sophie Scholl and Hans who gave out the anti-war leaflets in Nazi Germany to the Jewish families who were harbored in Holland. Such people disobeyed the law that was enacted by great rulers and did so because the law was unfair and therefore saw it was right to go against it. These people are still recorded to be some of the historical legends who did what they could do to ensure the right is done. I also stand by their claim that at times the law is morally unjust and breaking it may be the only option to do what is ethically right, and this could be through holding protests and other actions that may tend to be stated as civil disobedience.

Disobeying the police by conducting peaceful and non-violent protests that are a call of action due to the violation of people's rights and freedom by the police or any other government officials is morally right. The reason is that the protests do not cause any violence but seeks justice to potentially harassed individuals who are the right of any individual across the globe to enjoy their rights peacefully. At times justice's demands actions to be taken and may it be a call for action through protests, it is morally right to protest in demand for the rights so long as the demonstrations are carried out in a way that they do not affect the lives or rights of other individuals.

The clergy's argued that the protest conducted in 1963 by the Negros in Birmingham were untimely and unwise mainly because the clergy's had in January the same year issued an appeal of law and order and common sense to the courts due to the issue of racial problems that were seen in Alabama hence they were taking actions to deal with the question which was expected to be addressed slowly with time. The reason for the protests being untimely and unjust is because they were led by outsiders who did not understand quite clearly the local issues facing the people in Birmingham and it is the moral responsibility of government officials to protect their citizens from such protests influenced by outside forces.

The clergy argues that protests and demonstrations in Birmingham incited violence and hatred and however peaceful the events would be; they did not result in resolving the local problems of the Birmingham citizens. In this, the clergy asked all individuals including community members, government officials and the local news media to remain calm during the demonstrations and also continues to urge the Negros to withdraw the demonstrations and report their matters to court as well as to conduct negotiations with the local leaders to ensure peace and safety for all.

In response to the call for unity by the Clergy, Martin Luther states that the main reasons for using non-violent direct action were because the immediate non-violent actions allow for the creation of a crisis as well as fostering a tension by which a community that has previously refused to negotiate is now forced to address and resolve the issue. He insisted that it was as a result of the non-violent direct action that the issue at hand is dramatized such that no one can resist neglecting it. King states that he asked the use of non-violent immediate response in an aim to create tension which he confesses that the pressure was necessary in order for growth to take place and supports this with how Socrates so it better to create a tension in mind in order for individuals or people to come out of the bondage of myths. He continues stating that the pressure he created would help men to go out of the dark depths of racism and prejudice to the heights of brotherhood and understanding. The main aim for the direct actions was to demand justice for the Negros since it took them long for over 340 years waiting to enjoy their God-given and constitutional rights.

The Jim crow laws ensured that the Negros were denied the right to vote through the creation of often bogus literacy tests as well as creating poll taxes and they segregated the Negros from public places, that include restaurants, schools, theaters as well as train cars. The police terrorized and brutalized blacks through violent actions in their daily lives. They beat the peaceful protesters, turned powerful fire hoses on school students and turned attack dogs to the peaceful protesters. This was immoral, unjust and unfair to the black people and therefore there was a need to create a tension which would help see such issues and matters addressed.

Today most of the racism protest that occurs is structural racism protest which is not as influential as Birmingham's protests and the reason is because the Birmingham protest involve mass demonstration by all Negros in the region and was more of a joint mass demonstration which also included individuals from outside Birmingham but today's demonstrations occurs when a few individuals from on who lack courageous influencers such as Martin Luther who was even ready to go to prison for the sake of the freedom of the Negros. The people today fear to break the law since they do not wish to be sanctioned. Most people today face structural racism, and out of the less influence of the protests today, they ignore the fact that demonstrations can make any change hence in the earlier days, protests were much influential and played a more significant role in people presenting their grievances but for today people tend to differ from protesting but using the social media to make their voices heard and addressed.