In the last couple of weeks I have learned a lot of things from the readings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the practice of Non-Violence he used in his peaceful protests and Speeches that he has given. I have learned things such as the use of language and the of effects it may have in certain situations, I also learned the about the Bill of Rights and the Amendments that allowed Dr. King the opportunity to conduct these speeches and protests against the Government . Dr. King learned a lot of his methods of non-violence from Gandhi. Dr. King referred to Gandhi “as the guiding light of our technique of non-violent social change”. In this Blog I will show some of the connections that I have made with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. use of non-violence and the cluster classes that I have been taken. I will show how Mlk’s speeches and protests were protected by the Bill of Rights, and how His speeches had a strong connection to the use of language.
Dr. Martin Luther King jr. used the Bill of Rights Amendment number 1 in every protest he marched and every speech he gave. He used this Amendment to his advantage by conducting peaceful protests and given non-violent speeches. Bill of Rights Amendment 1 constitutes that people have the right to freedom of Speech, Religion, Press or the right to peacefully assemble. He was only able to do it because The Bill of rights guarantee’s the American people the right to do these things as long as it doesn’t threaten the wellbeing of another person . Even when being attacked or unjustly arrested Dr. always followed the law and never did anything to break the law . In Dr. King’s speeches he also used the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) numbers 1”we are all born free and equal”, 2 “Don’t Discriminate”, 3 “The right to life, 4 No slavery”, 5 “No torture”,6” You have rights no matter where you go”. Dr King believed in the rights for all men and women to be equal in a unjust society. I feel the use of these documents that Dr. King use relates to my Cluster class SSP245 Law and Human Rights Taught by Professor B. She taught me how so many people even Dr.King has fought for years to have rights of the people upheld through the Bill of Rights and through the UDHR.
In this Semester I have noticed a relation in the work of Dr. King and the teaching of my Professor Dr. Maria Jerskey about The Language of Human Rights .Dr. King gave peaceful, uplifting, motivational speeches that captured people’s attention from the contexts of his words and tones of his voice. Mlk used different tones that people had believed to be heartfelt through the relation of his struggles and injustices that people related with. His selection of words was remarkable and the context of his voice when delivering these words to the people was spiritual something like an out of body experience most people would say to describe the feeling they would get when listening to Mlk speak. He gave the people a sense of comfort in the darkest hour, faced with physical abuse, verbal abuse and numerous other injustices the Language that MLK delivered to the people before the Birmingham march motivated them to face everything that was ahead without resorting to violence. The language of Human Rights is very important but only one man has taken the language to new heights in my opinion through his speeches and that man was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This cluster that I took this semester seemed to all reflect the ideas of the other classes from Law to Language to the practice of Non-Violence. The Language of Human Rights to me are the life liberties that a person should be afforded from birth. The way we communicate in work, school, at home or in public or relates to the language of human rights to me. If Language is perceived or translated the wrong way it could be offensive violating a person’s rights. It is proven that if The Language of Human rights are used correctly it can become very effective around the world and cause change. Dr. King used language in a positive way and had gotten so very amazing results during the civil rights movement. Him and his Language are a big part of the end of segregation. I believe the The language of Human Rights have a limit because if used wrong people will take offense or rebel with the confusion of a person’s words. Mlk was assonated with his language for change when he wanted money from the Government during the poor people’s campaign. This Cluster taught me a lot of critical thinking between the classes and the relations they all had in the academics that I was taught this semester.
