Hate Crimes: Civil Disobedience

Decent Essays
Hate crime

Formal: A hate crime is a physical attack that targets a certain group of people.

Operational: Often times, hate crimes are committed against the most vulnerable people in society.

By example: The Wisconsin Sikh Temple shooting in 2012 which targeted the Sikh religious minority is considered a hate crime.

Civil Disobedience

Formal: In order for an act to be considered a civil disobedience, it must defy the laws or commands of a government.

Operational: Sometimes, people who have committed an act of civil disobedience see their actions as justified or as a moral obligation.

By example: Martin Luther King was sent to jail for civil disobedience by disobeying a court's order that prohibited him from demonstrating in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Civil disobedience is defined as members of a community choosing to actively disobey laws in protest of a cause. As proponents of civil disobedience, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi advocated for those following their causes to complete acts disregarding unjust laws put in place to draw attention to their separate causes. This method of fighting for a cause emphasizes understanding of the necessity for change, that people are actively defying the law to draw attention to the unfair systems in place. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used this to promote his movement of racial equality as compared with Gandhi’s movement for the separation of India from Britain. Both of their similar philosophies resulted in a degree of success, “the peaceful…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Civil Disobedience is a term that varies among different people. In the mind of Henry David Thoreau the definition of Civil Disobedience requires you to have at least three things. You must be able to identify an issue at hand. You must be willing to take action for that issue. You must be prepared to take responsibility for those actions.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Thoreau used the word “civil,” he meant “of or relating to citizens.” In modern usage, the term “civil disobedience” implies non-violence,…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    More recently, there have been protests in opposition to the new administration and, more specifically, to the Executive Order on immigration.. While these protests are often described as instances of civil disobedience, I disagree that they fit the definition, as the protesters are not purposefully violating a law they oppose. One of the recent examples of civil disobedience has been in response to laws such as North Carolina’s HB2, which requires individuals to use the bathroom of their sex and not the gender they identify with, when transgender individuals ignore the law’s directive. Resistance like this is civil disobedience at its best. It truly furthers society and makes it freer.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a free society, civil disobedience…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The relationship between hate crimes and inequality is that hate crimes are often used as a means of continuing the oppression and suppression of minority groups. Hate crimes assert the imagined “dominance” and “control” of the individual who commits them. Hate crimes are meant to instill fear into minority communities while trying to prevent them from working against systems of inequality. Whether committed as a form of “retaliation” or as a means of An example of a hate crime committed in this context would be the Charleston, South Carolina shootings committed by Dylan Roof.…

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Civil disobedience is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Looking at American history, it is clear for many to see that peaceful resistance is a core aspect in forcing change to occur ie. women’s suffrage, civil rights, anti war, gay rights, the labor movement, and etc. Without peaceful resistance, change would not occur. Change is rooted in the shadows of peaceful resistance, it’s what has never failed this country in making a difference.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Rawls defined civil disobedience as a politically motivated, public, non­violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies (Rawls, pg 364). With this in mind, he gives us three reasons as to what justifies the act of civil disobedience. 1) A clear violation of justice, particularly violation of equal liberty and fair equality of opportunities (Rawls 372). This is aimed directly to any of those laws that are clearly meant to restrict or subject certain groups to unjust conditions.…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Refusing to pay taxes that were going to contribute the Mexican American war. Henry David Thoreau put in jail. Thoreau was not one to fight with his fists but with his words and actions. He could have easily been released if he contributed to the finances of the war but he stood his ground, even if it meant staying in jail. This is a form of peaceful civil disobedience that is effective because it shows the rest of the citizens that his morals are more important than his freedom.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hate Crimes: Typology

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages

    All over the word hate crimes are a problem, people need to become more educated on how hate crimes negatively impact people's lives. If society becomes further educated on the negative emotional and criminal effects of hate crimes, then the overall percentage of hate crimes will decrease. A hate crime is defined as an offense motivated by hatred, bias, or prejudice, based on the race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation of another individual or a group of individuals (Schmalleger, 2015). Hate crimes have always been an issue in America; however, following the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, hate crimes became more prevalent.…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Civil Disobedience Unjust

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Civil Disobedience is the right of a person to oppose a law that one believes is unjust. This is a right of an individual because their actions are a result of their feeling as though a law or regulation isn't just or fair. By peacefully opposing such a law, this person may positively influence a free society, as a demonstration of one's personal beliefs and standing up for their rights. As Rosa Parks stated, "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right", people are encouraged to stand against laws that go against their personal beliefs of justice and equality. The U.S. Constitution supports a freedom of speech, enabling an individual to believe in and state whatever they wish.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Are Hate Crime Laws Effective? Recent legislations have been passed to control the rate of bias motivated crimes in the United States. Such crimes are referred to as hate crimes and include the targeting of a victim based on their race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, disability, etc. Those who take part in hate crimes are to be charged with tougher penalties than those who commit the same crime without bias motivation or, in other words, carry out an act on a victim specifically for something they said or did rather than for a large scale characteristic they possess.…

    • 1650 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hate crimes is listed as the number one priority of our Civil Rights program. As defined from FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Program, hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. It is also defined as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in a part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. Hate crimes happen often enough in the society that it has a multitude of myths and speculations. Hate crimes can include single-bias incidents, racial bias, religious bias, sexual-orientation bias, ethnicity/national origin bias, disability bias, and much more.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hate Crime Laws

    • 2025 Words
    • 9 Pages

    By making a hate crime law, it has given more protection to those in need. in The article “Hate Crime Laws”it specifies on “intending to intimidate not only the individual victim, but all members of the victim's community” This law focuses on making all Americans safe and not feeling isolated because of their sexuality and ethnicity. The state and local law enforcement official are in charge of investigating and prosecuting the hate crimes. Hate crime is considered a criminal offense because it causes harm to specific individuals. Although the state and local law enforcement officials are in charge of hate crimes.…

    • 2025 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A hate crime is an offense, usually violent, motivated by the prejudice of one specific status a single individual holds, i.e., sexual orientation, religion, gender, ethnicity, ect. These crimes are driven simply because of the hatred one person feels towards another. An individual is targeted because of something about themselves a single person or group of people do not approve of. Hate crimes are the highest priority of the FBI’s Civil Rights program and each year an estimated 1,200 crimes are reported, however, the number is most likely higher due to underreported cases. In 2012, an astonishing 5,796 were committed.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays