Seon
Not An Evil Liar
You are half correct. Civil rights movement lead by black leaders such as MLK provided the material condition for the Civil Rights Act. The riots after his death that saw more than a hundred cities burn around America provided the urgency of a need for action that saw the law pass despite opposition.
Our legal system generally sees the need for both restorative justice and punishments. While violence against another is evil, we see that it is necessary for the sake of order or compliance with basic standard of behavior. This is the justification for which the state employs violence (cops, jails, fines, executions).
This, however, runs both ways. While we agree that peaceful protest is the ideal method to protest, if peaceful protests is met with either apathy or violence, more and more people will resort to less ideal means of protesting, such as reprisals, burning down cities, or vandalism. The fear of this occurring is the unspoken reason why protests work. The oppressors change not because they suddenly repent their evil ways, which would only be a minority of cases, but because they fear being ripped to shreds in the streets by millions of formerly peaceful protesters who have determined they have exhausted all other options. As Malcolm X put it, ‘obey the law, listen to the police, but if they touch you, put them in the grave.’
Martin Luther King’s death proved this was a real possibility as hundreds of cities burned. The civil rights act of 1968 was the most filibustered bill for years despite constant attempts by more progressive senators to pass it, with both northern and southern politicians devoted to quashing it, and was dead in the water by the time of his assassination.
It passed within the week afterwards.
Our legal system generally sees the need for both restorative justice and punishments. While violence against another is evil, we see that it is necessary for the sake of order or compliance with basic standard of behavior. This is the justification for which the state employs violence (cops, jails, fines, executions).
This, however, runs both ways. While we agree that peaceful protest is the ideal method to protest, if peaceful protests is met with either apathy or violence, more and more people will resort to less ideal means of protesting, such as reprisals, burning down cities, or vandalism. The fear of this occurring is the unspoken reason why protests work. The oppressors change not because they suddenly repent their evil ways, which would only be a minority of cases, but because they fear being ripped to shreds in the streets by millions of formerly peaceful protesters who have determined they have exhausted all other options. As Malcolm X put it, ‘obey the law, listen to the police, but if they touch you, put them in the grave.’
Martin Luther King’s death proved this was a real possibility as hundreds of cities burned. The civil rights act of 1968 was the most filibustered bill for years despite constant attempts by more progressive senators to pass it, with both northern and southern politicians devoted to quashing it, and was dead in the water by the time of his assassination.
It passed within the week afterwards.
