Civil Disobedience Essay Examples

Civil Disobedience The incident that happened that Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles is an act of Civil Disobedience. The definition of Civil Disobedience according to the dictionary is, “the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes.” The incident caused protesters to refuse a certain law by boycotting nonviolently and protesting by sitting in street holding signs. Over five hundred protesting Walmart workers and supporters were confronted by close one hundred police officers wearing riot gear and a helicopter monitoring above. Most protesters just
According to the article, “Largest Civil Disobedience in Walmart History Leads to More than 50 Arrests”, one worker employed at Walmart is believed to only get paid twelve thousand dollars this year. The worker said, “It’s a daily struggle to make sure my family doesn’t go hungry.” Several workers also went on strike, calling for an end to low wages. All the protesters said according to the article, “Walmart can afford to pay every worker at least twenty-five thousand dollars a year – pointing to Walmart’s seventeen-billion-dollar profit from the latest year and the founding Walton family’s fortune, which equals the wealth of the bottom forty-two percent of American families.” Walmart replied to this comment by saying, “Four-hundred seventy-five thousand Walmart workers are paid more than twenty-five thousand dollars a year.” Many people are still not satisfied with that statement as “that leaves five hundred twenty-five thousand to eight hundred twenty-five thousand Walmart workers earning less than twenty-five thousand dollars a year.” Some current Walmart workers were interviewed and said they were pleased with the amount of money they are currently being paid and that “This is a national issue, not a Walmart issue.” one of the people that was interviewed in the article said. The protesters want change in the wages so
once said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” The Walmart workers and supporters that went on strike believe that the low wages that most Walmart workers are being paid is unjust. Dr. Luther King Jr. used civil disobedience to create government change. He took the non-violent method to get his message across. The protesters in downtown Los Angeles Thursday night also used the non-violent method to get their message across. Henry David Thoreau described the term civil disobedience as, “The active, public, conscientious breach of the law to bring about a change in law or public policy.” The Walmart protesters in downtown LA is considered an active public breach of the law to bring about change in the low wages Walmart workers are being paid. The public breach of law occurred when more than 50 protesters refused law enforcement when asked to move off the