Peaceful Protest Movement

The year was 1965. The Civil Rights Movement was in full force. SNCC and the SCLC were organizing a march to Montgomery Alabama from Selma. Led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, thousands of nonviolent protesters began on March 7th. They were then met by a blockade of state troopers and local police. These nonviolent, peaceful protesters were ordered to disperse, but clinging to their ideologies, they could not do that. Then, shortly after, the police fired tear gas, and beat the protesters with clubs. This event became known as "Bloody Sunday."
Why were these protesters marching? Why were they beaten within inches of death? These nonviolent demonstrators were only trying to obtain "equal treatment under the law," for themselves and their families. In return for seeking after this basic democratic principle, they were brutally assaulted. In search of creating a free society, they were attacked, by the very people who had sworn …show more content…
In a free society, "my right to swing my fist ends at the other person's nose." By resisting laws, citizens can have a negative impact by threatening the very thing that makes Americans free, the laws. On the contrary to this opinion however, without any peaceful resistance to the laws, the government could grow to become too powerful and invasive. Stopping peaceful protests is evidence of a tyrannical government, while encouraging peaceful protests is evidence of a free society. Americans' right to peaceful resistance of laws is evidence that we truly are a free society. Threatening that freedom however, will most certainly lead to a loss of individual freedoms, which is the basis of this country and our Constitution. In conclusion, peaceful resistance to the law, while it could have a negative impact on society temporarily, has a positive impact on the society in the long run by ensuring that the society is always a free society, rather than a