Campbell, David: Diversity

Action or complacency. In the case of the racial equality movement of the '60s, this was the primary choice in question. When diversity is suppressed or looked down upon in any way, especially in a legal sense, those affected have an obligation to do something about it. And when it is, in fact, in a legal sense, there is nobody that remains unaffected. A violation of human rights, no matter who it targets, is an ethical offense to each and every individual who is indeed a human.


The Alabama clergymen have respectable intentions in "A Call for Unity," advocating a peaceful, law-abiding resolution. However, their ideals for diffusing the conflict and its racial tensions are impractical at best. In a nation or state where the government itself is complacent and suppresses meaningful change, any strictly law-abiding movement can be put down with only the slightest bit of effort. Also, it is ironic that the government put so much emphasis on suppressing non-violent protest actions when it is obvious that in a stark majority of cases the violence during this time period can be attributed to the police force opposing the equal rights movement. Thus the suggestions, if not subtle demands, of the clergy are contradictory and at cross purposes to the cause of equality among all human beings.


Martin Luther King Jr.'s response to his fellow clergymen is calm, collected, while also firm and resolute. Whereas the clergy's intentions are respectable, King's are noble and morally driven. Just as there is a difference between fleeting happiness and internal joy, King points out there is a difference between merely having order and having real peace. In lieu of condoning civil obedience at the expense of justice, King advocates an ideal that, as far as American government goes, was conceptualized as long ago as the writing of the United States Constitution - when the government is unjust, the citizens are morally obligated to overthrow the government in favor of a new one. While in practice, this concept is more figurative, as the federal government was not literally overthrown, the equal rights movement seeks to accomplish just this.