| | In class today, I was reminded of Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (available here for those who have not read it before: http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html), which I read at the beginning of last semester in conjunction with Walker v. City of Birmingham for the first assignment for Civil Procedure. In Walker, the Supreme Court upheld contempt charges against protesters who disregarded an injunction preventing them from gathering to march or conduct civil rights demonstrations without a permit. The protesters, believing that the injunction was unconstitutional, disregarded it so that they could hold long-planned demonstrations on Good Friday. The court's holding evinces the concern for stability and order that some were alluding to in class today. It suggested that individuals who seek to challenge a law they believe to be unjust must do through the procedure of the courts; challenging an unjust law by disobeying it is not socially acceptable.
King's letter takes a pointedly different view. I would encourage everyone to read it who has not already done so because I would do a disservice in trying to paraphrase, but the main premise is that there is a difference between unjust laws (any law that degrades human personality, any law that the numerical majority compels the minority to follow but does not follow itself, a law out of harmony with moral, natural, or eternal law, any law that is inflicted on a group denied political representation) and just laws (any law that uplifts human personality, that the majority follows, that is in harmony with moral, natural or eternal law). One has a "moral responsibility," King says, to disobey unjust laws. He further states that "one who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty...an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law." | | | -- JessicaWirth - 06 Mar 2012
This is a really interesting thread. During the week we were reading about John Brown, I kept asking myself whether I could relate to what John Brown did and whether I could do something like that for a cause I truly believed in. I had a hard time accepting comments made in class that because there was massive and systemic violence being perpetrated by the slave-owning classes on the slaves the lives lost through the actions of John Brown were somehow justified or inevitable. This Hammurabi-style argument is, I think, not only ineffective but also inhumane. Killing 10 people in order to save 1000 is in no way justified or heroic no matter how important the cause. The value of life is not quantitative and the innocent that were killed should not be deprived of life in order to save others without choosing to do so. I feel like a lot of what I learn from this class tells me to be rebellious and radical- fight the system from the outside. I think the problem is not that people are not rebellious/radical but that they complain without doing anything. I feel like there is plenty of fighting to be done inside the system. Politicians never truly listen to the poor but they listen to the well-educated experts on poverty, who ostensibly have better knowledge of poverty than the poor. I decided to come to law school to learn to change the system from the inside so that people do not have to engage in acts of violence in desperation. | |
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> | -- SoYeonKim - 17 Mar 2012
Jessica, I’m not providing an answer to your last question as much as I’ll just add more to think about, but I think you should recognize that your question of “even if you have courage, then what?” is a good one because I think this is where Eben want us to be. In my view, he wants us to feel uncomfortable, frustrated, and maybe even guilty about where we are now and where we should be headed.
But, like you, I also wonder what it is to meaningfully contribute to social justice. What does that look like, particularly for folks who are working two jobs, or are working parents, or have sick relatives to take care of at home? The simple reality is that these are serious obstacles for many people in deciding whether to take it to the street. When there are legitimate hardships that prevent us from taking that extra step, I wonder how those of us in that position can still incorporate even just a little piece of John Brown in our lives.
I thought the Kony 2012 Campaign by Invisible Children offered an innovative and accessible channel to do justice. I really identified with the way the movement recognizes that a vast majority of Americans want to make some sort of social impact but just don’t know how or where to start. The campaign also culminates with supporters actually going to the streets, putting up posters and signs about the cause. But then the NYT has this really provocative debate the questions whether it can be really said that supporters are fighting for a cause “without leaving the couch?” Are supporters getting a “false sense of accomplishment” that they are taking real action from putting up posters and wearing “Kony 2012” bracelets? TMS Ruge, a Ugandan social entrepreneur, thinks so and argues that “[t]he world isn’t that simple or easy to fix. The campaign missed a huge opportunity to instill agency in Uganda’s civil society, to encourage citizens to act on their own behalf. That would have been hugely transformative. But instead, Ugandans are left wondering, ‘What is this?’” In response, Lisa Shannon, a social activist, has one basic message: “Awareness can inspire action.” She points out that one of the greatest obstacles for bringing down Kony and other problems in Africa has been the silence. Aren’t supporters taking action by making Kony “famous,” as the campaign calls it? Then again it’s easy to raise your voice against a war criminal when you live in another continent. On balance, I sympathize with Ruge’s position and critics like him because they’ve challenged me to look into the crimes in Uganda that are much more complicated than what the 30 minute video that Invisible Children presented; however, I tend to agree with the “awareness inspires action” view. I wonder if it’s because of my own guilt for not being able to do something more. But for the most part, I agree with Shannon's view because it recognizes that becoming an advocate and activist for social justice sometimes takes a step in the right direction. It can start with putting up a poster or two and seeing where that takes you and what that inspires you do to going forward.
-- LizzieGomez - 18 Mar 2012 |
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