March Towards ChangeEssay Preview: March Towards ChangeReport this essayMartin Luther King revolutionized the way change was made in America by utilizing the principles he saw in Mohammed Gandhi, principles of non-violent yet powerful action, and principles of the intelligent working of the human mind.
With the inspiration of Gandhi and his idol Lincoln firmly implanted in his mind Luther was able to effectively change America in a way that was rarely seen at the time and is still uncommon today, a way of non-violence. Luther saw that violence did nothing but further the oppositions resentment and ultimately harmed the cause, as well as provided reason for retaliation. He was able to get past the human instinct and use his mind as his weapon, seen at work through his words and leadership. This method has always been the most effective means to initiate change, because rather than giving your opponent a reason to hate it forces them to listen and works to change their beliefs, rather than to overpower them by force.
This method was successful for Gandhi in his fight for Indian independence from Britain and also worked for Luther. When he marched through the streets of the America exercising his constitutional rights and refraining from violence the people of this nation were able to see that these people were not evil as some made them out to be. When they saw Luther and his supporters being attacked with water hoses and tear gas and still remaining non-violent they realized that Luther was not the one at fault, but rather those who tried to oppress his effort for equality. It was this epiphany of the American people that made his method effective, for if he had been violent in his fight there would be no clearly defined right and wrong but two sides to which people would take up biased support. With this blurring of morality eliminated it was only a matter of time before Luther convinced the public. However this change was slow and took diligence, something that some, such as Malcolm X, were
[quote=FreedmanBaker2]
[quote=John]Well, Mr. Luther was a big help in a few cases and was very clear as to the legal basis for the U.S.’s use of force over the question of the right of nonviolent resistance. With that in mind the U.S. government had to take a step back and consider the role we played in our nation’s war on drugs as the key decision not to use force even though a minority may have opposed the war in other ways.
[quote=JimB]The decision of the U.S. government not to use force was important to President Franklin Roosevelt. It would help him make the choice he needed to have an effective, nonviolent, anti-drug war on drugs.
[quote=JimB]And I think, as an American citizen, I think President Roosevelt said at the time, and I think for him very eloquently and for every person of all faiths who I know, and what they said at that time, the fact that we did not use force when we were not taking drugs is a reminder that we did not have a moral obligation to use force. And that we used force to address the problem of drug cartels because they were bringing bad people back. So, at some point while we were there, as I think President Roosevelt, that really changed.
[quote=JedL]This was a decision President Roosevelt had made shortly after becoming the first man elected by a large part of American society in 1864, and it was a decision of the highest order that we should not be using force in any way whatsoever to prevent drug cartels from getting to the United States or to deter violent crimes in the United States. This was something that we saw through the efforts of many of the United States’ closest allies and allies and was just one of those things that we didn’t think we were going to lose.” He said he didn’t regret that decision.
JedL
[quote=FreedmanBaker2]
The great irony is not only that President FDR was not the first man elected by a large part of American society in the first place but that we are able to have such a clear history of using force to deter and ultimately stop violence against one another as one can see in this videotape of Jim Baker’s speech in New Orleans with the United States Senate.
[quote=FreedmanBaker2]
When the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 1968 case of Van Buren v. Louisiana, in what is perhaps the landmark case of our time that took us in the wrong direction toward black men and women, I think President Kennedy made clear to the American public that he has taken that choice. Because we will continue to use force to protect the right of nonviolent resistance, we all want violence out of politics. But this is something that all of us should be aware of. It is just that in the process of being exposed we don’t always remember that it is just as easy and easier for political leaders to be elected than elected people to speak forcefully against their political, economic and social values.
[quote=JedL]Even the way President Kennedy spoke about use of force he didn’t call it so though and just said, quote, “In 1968 you cannot get nonviolent change to pass through the House without a lot of resistance.” And that was when the American people turned to Gandhi to see a political answer to this conflict in which the United States and our allies were fighting to help that change happen. To bring an end to drug trafficking and violence that had been going on for fifty plus years.
JedL
[quote=Jeff]I mean, this doesn’t mean that you are saying that they are going to have us get into a state where we stop and demand that we give every other person in this country