Reflective Essay Example on The Best Way of Protesting

In the time period both “on civil disobedience” and “ letter from Birmingham” , both talk about fighting injustice and the right ways to do this. Many of the issues during these times consisted of unequal treatment of everyone around them, disrimination of certain groups and races, and injustice of these groups as well. In both texts, the author has made it clear that they believe the right way and most effective way of protesting is to go about it in a non violent manner. You need to be willing to take the punishment they give you and take in the ways they are going to try and hurt you; however, you may not hurt them. 

I can agree with this statement personally. I feel like if they realize you are handling yourself in a mature and calm way , they will know you are serious about it and you are willing to take whatever they do to you in order to get your point across. King talks about how it is “just” because he is disobeying the law, however, he is willing to go to jail for his crime. He believes it’s worth the jail time because the law is morally wrong and they will see this when he keeps showing up just to put himself in jail.

In “On Civil Disobedience”, Gandhi goes back to what King was saying when he states, “ So as long as it is your endeavor to control us from behind, we will let you do so. But if you  wish to strike us from behind , we cannot permit it.” I can also agree with this statement because Gandhi is aware that the higher power will not simply allow for harm to begin when they can easily rule over it and make it come to a stop. However, if there is no harm being done, and there is no resistance to being arrested, there is no reason to take an urgent move on these protests. Knowing this, it might allow for the whites to listen in on what the African Americans were protesting.

In relevance to this day in age, I feel like these “rules” still apply. If we look at the recent events in 2020 with the protests from the BLM movement, it became clear that no one was willing to listen to what was happening. The second one person shows violence, it casts over the rest of the group. People stopped tuning in on what they were saying and more on what they were doing. Anger sheltered over the points they wanted to get acrossed. 

Like King said “ I submit that an individual who breaks that conscience tells him it 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 the law.” Again, if they would’ve taken a more subtle approach ( not that they didn't have every right to be upset and want to get revenge) , things may have played out differently. Imagine the effect the BLM could’ve had on the U.S. if educated blacks were standing up and making speeches and were simply using their voice and happy to be arrested. 

To sum up my reflection and opinions, I agree with the two articles in saying the best way of protesting is to be peaceful but powerful. I also felt like the points still apply to today in 2022 and reflected back to 2020 and what had happened in comparison to how Martin Luther handled the injustice in 1963.