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Show Writings of philosopher Prove inspiration for activist BY CYNTHIA WOOTTON w x. In PersnPrtiv. L. beans, and he turn.H ,Used t0 maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest." As a result of this injustice Kng and his supporters found it necessary todiobey the injunction to halt their demonstrations in Birmingham, Ala. An essential concomitant of civil diobediance is the actor's willingness to accept the punishment punish-ment that follows. Willingness to accept the penalty for breaking a law was inherent in King's use of civil disobediance. "I submit," he cepted peacefully his sojourn in jail (although of a more limited duration). To whom did Thoreau make his declaration of injustice? By writing writ-ing his work, "Civil Disobediance," Disobedi-ance," publishing it and lecturing on the subject he attempted at least to give his views audience. He did make his protest known to the local tax collector, his close friends, probably, the jailer and the other prisoner who shared the cell with him on that particular occassion. But, did he send around petitions? Did he stand on BY CYNTHIA WOOTTON In Perspective Editor The Man of Action raises the banner high while waving for all to follow. Turbulence and tension are all about him as he marshalls his forces to overcome all obsta-cles, obsta-cles, to buiJd new foundation, to march, march, march. The newspapers and magazines follow him, dramatize him until the legend all but overshadows the man. In short, the impact of the Activitist is visible and audible. This is particualrly true when the Activitist conducts his life according accord-ing to a moral law which calls for Civil Disobediance. Behind every man of action stand other men, men of great thoughts, with deep-rooted responses re-sponses to the political and social enigmas of their age. These men do something with words so that they become more than words: Battle cries. While their own activity activ-ity is often limited to something less than spectacular, what they have penned lights the torches for other men's battle marches. Such is the correspondence between be-tween Martin Luther King Jr., the Activist of our age, and Henry David Thoreau, inspiration for not only much of Martin Luther King's activity, but also that of India's Mahatma Gandhi. Any treatment of civil disobediance in the American climate would be incomplete without a word about these three individuals. Dr. Candidal Candi-dal Seshachari's essay introduces us to Gandhi's significance to American thought. Here it would be appropriate to contrast King and Thoreau. A man of the early 19th century, cen-tury, Henry David Thoreau was a New England school teacher by profession but not by temperament. tempera-ment. Alarmed by the new industrialism indus-trialism invading his region and disenchanted with his government's govern-ment's ability to abolish slavery in the South, as well as its inability to solve equitably many of the political problems of the day, Thoreau essentially chose retreat as his means of protest. He submerged sub-merged himself in what was left of the American frontier and refused to vote, attend church or pay taxes. Words were the stuff with which he worked when he wasn't Joeing beans, and he turned out a bnef essay, "Civil Disobediance" His words affected not only Gandhr , South Africa, but also an intense young black minis,?, Martin Luther King Jr., more than a century after they were written ur. Kangs chosen profession is indicative of his decidedly social nature (as contrasted with Tho-reau's Tho-reau's rugged individualism) King, too, had become increasingly increas-ingly dissatisfied with his government's govern-ment's ability to improve-conditions improve-conditions for the Southern blacks, despite the fact that Lincoln's Lin-coln's Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1862, the very year Thoreau died. Whereas Thoreau had objected to the physical slavery of the black, King represented those who, since the Reconstruction protested the psychological and intellectual slavery of the black, the oppression that attempted to smother his spirit. Essentially, King chose confrontation as his means of protest. Thoreau, in his essay, posed a question which outlines the basic consideration with which civil disobediance dis-obediance deals. "Unjust laws exist: ex-ist: Shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?" Thoreau Tho-reau felt in unjust that the government govern-ment tax him and then use his taxes to finance the Mexican War or the local clergyman, both of which were causes he couldn't in conscience support. And so he refused to pay his taxes, without attempting to first "amend" the law. King likewise found it eventually eventu-ally necessary to not only transgress trans-gress certain laws himself, but to advocate such action for others, but only after repeated attempts to negotiate, petition and amend. In his book, "Why We Can't Wait," King justified this law-breaking: law-breaking: "Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading par-ading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when.it volved in the demonstrations to do so as well, Thoreau also ac-stated, ac-stated, that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him in unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment imprison-ment in order to arouse the conscience con-science of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest regard for law." Just as King willingly went to jail for refusing to heed the injunction in-junction and urged all those in- streetcorners with handbills? Did he organize meeting for people who agreed with him? Did he plan a march on city hall? No, he held a disdain for governmnet which kept him from seriously considering consider-ing the means of recourse, however how-ever cumbersome, that our society provides. Then again, if Thorcau's writing influenced just one man, that man being Martin Luther King Jr., he succeeded in giving his philosophy international voice. |
