Civil Disobedience Argument Analysis

Civil disobedience is a good thing, and indeed a necessary thing, until it is no longer civil. Such prominent civil disobedience advocates in our world’s history, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., understood this principle; this belief in civility amidst disobedience for social justice guided their respected movements. However, the argument can be effectively put forth today that such principle is lacking in the modern employments of civil disobedience. Once the understanding of civility is lost, civil disobedience is no longer civil, and therefore no longer good for our society. In his famous “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. outlined for white ministers in Birmingham how he and his associates undertook “a process of self purification”. According to King, this process literally involved workshops on civil
I believe the answer is no, civil disobedience as it is used today is doing society no good because today’s movements for social justice lack the civility of King and his followers. In September of 2016, for example, riots erupted in Charlotte, North Carolina in response to the shooting of an African American man, Keith Lamont Scott, by a Charlotte police officer. These riots began as civil protests which, as stated earlier, are good and necessary; however, by the evening of the first day of protesting, civil protest escalated to violence that resulted in Governor Pat McCrory declaring a State of Emergency. CNN’s report on the event features video footage of protestors doing everything from breaking glass windows to attacking their own reporter on the ground in Charlotte. Such undeniable and troubling footage prompts one to question if such action is good for not only accomplishing the goal of social justice but also for society as a