WITHIN THE WORLD’S LARGEST ISSUES IN HISTORY, ONE CAN SEE MAN TAKING THE RESPONSIBILITY

TO CORRECT CORRUPT GOVERNMENTS IN ORDER TO

PROVIDE JUSTICE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.

Kelsey Wolfe

Chelsea Montgomery

Haylee Pierce

Robert Hall

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

“All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable” (Thoreau). Many times in history people

have followed the teachings of Thoreau by standing up to a government’s injustices.

Ex: Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi

THE HOLOCAUST A handful of Jehovah’s Witness challenged the Nazi

Government even when facing the risk of being sent to concentration camps and eventual death.

Through their efforts they exposed the cruel practices used by the Nazi’s and potentially helped end Hitler’s reign, saving many lives from future turmoil. Instead of standing back and letting the killing of innocent people continue, they took the responsibility to challenge Germany’s corrupt government (Standing).

ROSA PARKS Rosa Parks stood up against discrimination

when she refused to give her bus seat up to a white man. This lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was

a plea to the government for equal rights. In 1956, the American Supreme Court ruled that

segregation on buses was illegal, improving the lives of African Americans for years to come (English).

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. “Rev. King emphasized the importance of working together

to fight injustice. As he stated so eloquently in his letter form a Birmingham jail: ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly’” (Creighton). Whatever injustices the government inflicts now will continue to

effect later generations. Martin Luther King Jr. expresses the need for people to stand up to

this corruption now so the future for everyone will be brighter.

THE DAY OF AFFIRMATION Robert Kennedy’s speech was fighting for South African’s

individual liberties because of their corrupt government. “…the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do

against the enormous array of the world’s ills – against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence” (Political). Kennedy explains that no matter who you are or where you are, you can

always find a way to make a difference in all lives under a corrupt government.

“Yet many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man” (Political).

INSIDE JOB Inside Job shows a perfect example in America’s history where

man never takes the responsibility to address injustice and what happens because of this. The corrupt banking system in America started after its deregulation

by the government in 1981 and eventually caused people to lose their homes all while putting them into debt.

Since the system wasn’t regulated by the government these bankers left the catastrophe holding millions.

Someone should have taken the responsibility to address this corrupt practice and to point out that it all started with the decisions of the government. Now future generations will have no choice but to carry the debt of their parents (Ferguson).

WORK CITED

"Creighton News Martin Luther King Address." Creighton News Martin Luther King Address. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

"English-Online." Rosa Parks. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

Ferguson, Charles H, Audrey Marrs, Chad Beck, Adam Bolt, Matt Damon, Paul A. Volcker, George Soros, Eliot Spitzer,

Barney Frank, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Svetlana Cvetko, Kalyanee Mam, and Alex Heffes. Inside Job. Culver City, Calif: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2011.

"Political Speeches: Landmark Political Speeches." POLITICAL SPEECHES » Robert F. Kennedy’s Day of Affirmation �� �� ��Speech (South Africa). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

"Standing United Against Injustice." Teen Ink. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.

Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience," The Thoreau Reader, http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html, 24 February 2013.