A law – a set of rules made by the government with the purpose to preserve freedom, rights and moral agency. Do all laws exhibit these traits? No, as Martin Luther King Jr wrote in The Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963, “There are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws”. There are laws that help the community and create a safer environment for all, and there ones that restrict groups of people in regards to their basic human rights.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “A just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow, and it is willing to follow itself”. An example of a good law is when president Laydon B. Johnson introduced the law of voting rights for African Americans on the 6 August 1965. This was a milestone at the time and provided non-racial discrimination in voting. Around about the same time, like their American counterparts, Indigenous Australians were protesting for the same rights. Another example of good laws is when the Indigenous Australians were recognised as Australian citizens. This came because of the 1967 Referendum, which forced a change in Australia’s Constitution. This meant that they recognised the Indigenous people of Australia as citizens and allowed them to represent themselves …show more content…
What created this change was the non-violent approach that they took. Martin Luther King wrote, “Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “A just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow, and it is willing to follow itself”. An example of a good law is when president Laydon B. Johnson introduced the law of voting rights for African Americans on the 6 August 1965. This was a milestone at the time and provided non-racial discrimination in voting. Around about the same time, like their American counterparts, Indigenous Australians were protesting for the same rights. Another example of good laws is when the Indigenous Australians were recognised as Australian citizens. This came because of the 1967 Referendum, which forced a change in Australia’s Constitution. This meant that they recognised the Indigenous people of Australia as citizens and allowed them to represent themselves …show more content…
What created this change was the non-violent approach that they took. Martin Luther King wrote, “Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and