My Final Paper for English 1B

In order to combat segregation and racism, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has taken up nonviolent protesting in order to show that African Americans were just good people in a bad position. It seems that breaking laws to show goodness might be contradictory, but King argues that there are just laws, which should be obeyed, and unjust laws, which are meant to be disobeyed. The determining of a law to be just or unjust is not always clear, but a main view that King presents is that a just law should be natural whereas an unjust law is not natural. He also talks about the means of the law coming into power affecting their just-ness. Although America has successfully determined and broken unjust laws in segregation, there are still many shaded areas of laws and morality where King's ideas apply to in the present day, namely in the pornography industry.

Much anxiety comes up in King's protest when he breaks laws, "You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern" (178). King and his protestors will seem quite hypocritical breaking some laws and obeying others if he cannot explain his reasoning based on just and unjust laws. The hypocrisy can easily be seen when you see that the protesters are quick to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in public schools (178), and then breaking other laws right after. To not seem like a hypocrite, King argues that there are two types of laws, just and unjust laws; we are not just legally obligated, but also morally obligated to obey just laws while at the same time morally obligated to defy unjust laws.

There are several ways to determine whether or not a law is just or unjust, and simply put by King, "A just law is a manmade code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law" (178-179). A just law is one that uplifts people, making people better, while an unjust law is the exact opposite in that it degrades people. In addition to degradation, a law should apply to everyone and not just by a group of people. A law is unjust if it is forced upon a group of people by another group of people and while the forced upon group must obey the law, the group that did the forcing is not bound by the law. In segregation, many of the laws were forced upon a minority by the majority while at the same time the majority does not have to obey the law, and as King puts it "This is difference made legal" (179). Another reason that segregation laws are unjust is because it is forced upon a minority that had no say in the making of the law in the first place. Because of many methods that prevent the minority, African Americans, from being able to vote on these laws in the first place, they have no say in a law that only affects them. Due to these various reasons, King determines whether a law is just or unjust and whether or not it is morally acceptable to break the law and face the consequences.

Though Americans no longer have to worry about the issues of segregation and its unjust laws, there are still many questionable laws and morals that can be debated, particularly those of the pornography industry. Many people in society would debate that pornography is morally degrading, especially to women, but if based on King's checks and balances of just or unjust morals and laws, I do not see anything wrong with the pornography industry. Although it cannot be said for sure if actors in the porn industry are uplifted, there are no signs of degradation. Even though some will argue that women are being degraded in pornography, women and men are both in an equally respectful manner. Most importantly, no one ever forces any of the people who work in the pornography industry, male or female, to be in the industry or abide by their rules; the industry is built on free choice. Based on King's reasoning on a just or unjust law, there is no reason for any moral or legal actions towards pornography, though just like in segregation, there will always be people with their own perspective on pornography.

Though Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has conquered one of the biggest just or unjust laws issue that we know as segregation, there are still many issues like pornography that are still in the gray area of just and unjust. King gives a new look on laws and morals when he states that there are two types of laws, just and unjust and that we as people are morally obligated to obey just laws and defy unjust laws. With an issue that has plagued America for over two hundred years finally solved thanks to King's reasoning, there is no reason why America cannot use his reasoning once again to determine just or unjust topics such as pornography in the future.

The St. Martin's Guide to Writing. 7th ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.