Legal Aspects of Nonviolent Direct Action - Article Example

If there is no positive change, then if there is no positive change the third step is purification where the involved people learn about nonviolence. The final step is direct action where people present themselves to present their cases.

Law and order exist to establish justice is a valid statement because, for the realization of fair treatment of all people, the governing rules must apply to everyone. If there is no law and order, then people will do all types of crime and get away with such actions. Society would be a place where the powerful have their way over the weak and poor if there is no law and order. Therefore, the law serves to place all citizens equally and give everyone access to institutions that can protect people’s rights. Law and order in my community help in giving protection to poor people from the rich taking their property or forcing the poor to work without proper compensation. The law, therefore, enhances justice.

Unjust laws may also include situations where rich people use their influence to get laws passed allowing them to pay less tax in comparison to the poor. In addition to this, unjust law also includes a scenario where the majority passes laws or objects to the passing of laws that may negatively affect the majority while helping the marginalized groups.

The best-written paragraph is paragraph 17 because King provides a different approach to the understanding of just law and unjust law. The difference is that he deviates from the traditional response that the law ought to respect human rights. In that paragraph, he voices the need for the majority to bind themselves by the laws they pass and allow the minorities to participate in making laws.

Tension is beneficial when applied correctly because it keeps authorities on their toes for fear of repercussions in case they make the wrong decision. The tension that King referred to was the tension of the fear of an outbreak of violence.

King was termed as being an extremist when he encouraged his followers to participate in nonviolent direct action, in a move to have their voices heard.  To some people, he was creating room for violence, which is against the Christian faith.

According to my understanding of King’s letter, he closely associates the need of women with those of racial equality. He cites women in Alabama that refused to ride segregated buses or the battered women in Birmingham. This illustrates how King associates the rights of women with the rights of the minority races. King argues that the government ought to respect the needs of every single individual because they are the basis of the government. Like Thoreau said of the Chinese philosopher, the empire is built on an individual, to mean that single people form empires when together.