Assignment 8 Martin Luther King

How does M.L. King argue that segregation laws are unjust?

 

Martin Luther King critiques both parties for promoting the ethical treament of people regardless of color, race, or creed.  King states, "Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of the Southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of reactionary right wing northern Republicans. And this coalition of southern Dixiecrats and right wing reactionary northern Republicans defeats every bill and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights."  The views split between northern and southern parallels caused chaos during King's time period.  The Northen approach was deemed to be more democratic.

Why, according to King, should we disobey unjust laws?

King describes laws to to be unjust, " a code that is out of harmony with the moral law." He believed people have a responsibility because sometimes those laws could be unethical, ever changing, and out-dated.  The Constitution was brought forward during a different time period.  More ratifications should be put into lace for meeting the needs of its inherited people.

 

How does Aquinas determine if a law is just or unjust?

 

The sum ma refers to an abstract idea, derived from science, that is formulated from the nature of GOD, the nature of man, evil, consciousness, love, happiness, morality, virtues. reason, justice, society, and most relevantly law.  Due to his I.Q. he can derived from mental consciousness.  His "Treatise on Law," are no exception.  He also states, " The law is defines and separated into two categories which can also be classified; its part's and percepts are made known; its purpose and power are revealed for all.

How would a Legal Positivist judge segregation laws?

 

The definition of legal positivism is a school of thought of philosophy of law and jurisprudence, largely developed by eighteenth and nineteenth-century legal thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. The legal divide and validity make up the train of thought for a Legal Positive.  Reshaping functional laws and finding moral ground are the justifications for exercising this particular view point. 

Part II: Due Sunday May 26

Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes Saint Augustine’s famous remark that “an unjust law is no law at all.” It has been objected that this claim is plainly false. How can something fail to be “law” simply because it is unjust or in some other way immoral? King, himself, critics point out, was punished and put in jail for, as we would say, “breaking the law.” Assuming that King was right and the racially discriminatory statutes and practices of the South were unjust, does the fact that King wound up in jail prove that unjust laws nonetheless remain laws? Does that fact in itself refute Augustine? If not, why not?

During the civil rights era multiple forms of expression were used in combating laws and unjust treatment.  Forms such as boycotts, marches, sit-ins, and rallies where used to inform the people and to get necessary information to it's people.  Not every form was peaceful, some of the actions taken against Mr. King were done outside the guidelines of the law, i.e., "Excessive Force," this goes along the guidelines of Augustine.  An unjust law will not sit well with the people that it governs over.