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Jan 17, 2022 1 min, 34 secs
While many like to speak of King's "dream" and his commitment to peace, part of remembering him means understanding his belief that society has a responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King said we have a duty to disobey unjust laws.

"I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws.

"Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws?

King was unwavering in advocating for civil disobedience to break systems of oppression — disobeying unjust laws in the open, and with love.

Jim Crow segregation statutes were a prime example of unjust laws because "segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality," as King noted.

And, of course, sitting in a Birmingham jail cell, he spoke of how Alabama's segregation laws that prevented Black citizens from voting were put in place by an undemocratically elected state Legislature (a power majority).

While he did not advocate lawbreaking, or as he said "evading or defying the law" like the "rabid segregationist," King was unwavering in advocating for civil disobedience to break systems of oppression — disobeying unjust laws in the open, and with love.

Meanwhile, there are people today who support unjust laws yet invoke King's name when it is convenient.

Supporting policies that directly oppose King's dream for America, they cherry-pick his words without context to justify unjust laws.

In a 1963 interview, King cited the filibuster as stalling the Civil Rights Act of 1964: "I think the tragedy is that we have a Congress with a Senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting.".

That same year at the March on Washington, King said: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.".

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