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How did Martin Luther King, Jr. propose to end injustice?

Dr. King believed that nonviolent civil disobedience would end injustice.


Dr. King believed that people had a moral duty to oppose injustice.  He was not passive in suggesting that individuals must respond to evil in the world.  He proposed that individuals embrace nonviolence as a means to end injustice.  Nonviolent civil disobedience would transform the souls of individuals who perpetrate injustice:



I do not want to give the impression that non- violence will work miracles overnight. Men are not easily moved from mental ruts or purged of their prejudice and irrational feelings. When the underprivileged demand freedom, the privileged first react with bitterness and resistance. Even when the demands are couched in non-violent terms, the initial response is the same... The non-violent approach does not immediately change the hearts of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it.... Finally, it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality.



Dr. King felt that challenging injustice through nonviolence would "stir" the conscience, and cause change.  He believed that civil disobedience rooted in non-violent opposition creates the conditions that will end injustice. He wanted to awaken the conscience of those who carried out injustice.  In getting them to see the inhumanity of their actions, Dr. King felt that injustice would end.


Dr. King's proposition to end injustice carries a moral responsibility.  He felt that people have to commit themselves to being of the best character they can be in order to achieve change.  Dr. King would argue that ending injustice through violence is not morally permissible.  Even through the end result is achieved, the means through which it is accomplished does not create the reality of change.  Violence and injustice in one form has become supplanted with another.  It is for this reason that he believed that nonviolent civil disobedience was the best and most lasting way to end injustice.

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