Community, Injustice, and Civil Disobedience: Key Takeaways

This article explores the concepts of community and injustice, focusing on how individuals navigate their duties to a community when its rules are unjust or when they face exclusion. It draws on the philosophies of Plato, Socrates, Thoreau, Gandhi, and the activism of Martin Luther King Jr. and Virginia Woolf to illustrate these complex themes.

Community and Its Limitations

Community is generally viewed positively, as a place of belonging and shared values. Plato, for instance, emphasizes adherence to the community and understanding one's place within it, particularly in The Republic. However, questions arise regarding the limitations of an individual's duties to their community, especially concerning inclusion/exclusion and what happens when community rules are unjust.

Historically, thinkers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, and even the founders of Yale lived in societies where hierarchy was accepted and considered appropriate. The idea that "all men are created equal" only emerged with the American Revolution, and even then, its application was limited, as evidenced by figures like Jefferson who enslaved people. The equality of women was largely unaddressed. This historical context highlights a world with much greater hierarchy than today, where social place was rigidly defined, surprisingly similar in some ways to Plato's descriptions.

Exclusion from Community: Race and Gender

The discussion specifically examines two types of exclusion: based on race and gender. Social class is acknowledged as another significant factor, to be discussed later in the semester.

The Principle of Character

Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Virginia Woolf, though from different backgrounds and eras, used the language of character to argue against exclusion. They contended that character is not exclusive to white men and that individuals should be judged based on their character and actions, not on their race, gender, or social status. This principle suggests that character is distributed across the population, and rewards and punishments should be based on achievement and behavior rather than inherited status.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Racial Injustice

Martin Luther King Jr., at a young age, observed the hypocrisy of educated individuals like Governor Talmadge who, despite intellectual prowess, upheld segregation. King argued that "intelligence plus character" is the goal of true education, emphasizing that education should foster not only knowledge but also character development and freedom from prejudice.

King's activism took place in a deeply segregated America, a century after the abolition of slavery. Jim Crow Laws enforced racial segregation, denying Black people basic rights, including voting, and mandating separate and unequal facilities. The Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in the mid-1950s declared school segregation unconstitutional, but desegregation was a long and arduous process, often requiring federal intervention.

King's leadership was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement. He became a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, where he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott, a pivotal moment that led to the desegregation of buses. He also led the Selma to Montgomery marches and the Poor People's Campaign. His "Letter from Birmingham Jail," written in 1963, articulated his philosophy of nonviolent direct action.

King defined an unjust law as one out of harmony with moral law, citing St. Thomas Aquinas. He stated that "Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." Segregation laws, he argued, were unjust because they distorted the soul and damaged personality. He also highlighted that a just law is one that a majority is willing to follow itself, not just compel a minority to follow.

King emphasized the "interrelatedness of all communities and states," famously stating, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny." He rejected the "outside agitator" idea, asserting that all citizens of the United States are interconnected. The Civil Rights Movement gained momentum in the mid-20th century due to several factors: the recent defeat of Nazism and fascism, which made domestic discrimination unacceptable; the desegregation of the military, which highlighted the hypocrisy of denying full rights to Black soldiers; and the global anti-colonial movement, which inspired calls for independence and equality at home.

Civil Disobedience

The question of when it is acceptable to break with community expectations or duties is central to the concept of civil disobedience. King outlined four basic steps in any nonviolent campaign: 1. Collection of facts to determine if injustices exist. 2. Negotiation. 3. Self-purification. 4. Direct action.

Direct action, such as sit-ins or boycotts, is the final phase, designed to create a crisis and tension that forces a community to confront issues it has refused to negotiate. The power of media, particularly television, played a crucial role in exposing the violence against nonviolent protesters, generating moral outrage and prompting federal action.

King's approach to civil disobedience was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's "Quit India" campaign. Both Gandhi and King believed in breaking unjust laws and peacefully accepting the punishment, such as imprisonment, to highlight the injustice and ultimately change public opinion.

Inspirations for Civil Disobedience

King drew inspiration from several figures:

• Socrates: King saw Socrates as a "nonviolent gadfly" who created tension to help individuals rise from "bondage of myths and half-truths." While Socrates, as depicted in The Republic, favored an authoritarian system and accepted hierarchy, his willingness to face death rather than compromise his principles of justice, as seen in the Crito, resonated with King. Socrates's belief that "One must neither repay an injustice nor cause harm to any man, no matter what one suffers because of him" reflects a commitment to non-retaliation.

• Henry David Thoreau: King was deeply influenced by Thoreau's essay "On Civil Disobedience." Thoreau, imprisoned for refusing to pay taxes to protest the U.S.-Mexican War and the expansion of slavery, argued that "noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good." He famously stated, "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."

• Mahatma Gandhi: Gandhi transformed civil disobedience into a mass movement. He viewed an unjust law as a form of violence and advocated for resisting it with nonviolence, breaking the law, and peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment. His protests, such as the Salt March, demonstrated the power of collective nonviolent resistance against oppressive laws.

This tradition of civil disobedience, rooted in figures like Socrates, Thoreau, and Gandhi, provides a framework for individuals to respond when the state acts unjustly, offering an alternative to Plato's demand for full commitment to the state.

Virginia Woolf and Gender Inequality

Virginia Woolf, though from a privileged background, faced exclusion due to her gender. Her essay "A Room of One's Own" addresses the question of women's education and the societal barriers that prevented women from achieving their full potential. Her work highlights how gender-based exclusion limited opportunities and privileges, a theme that is also relevant to the history of institutions like Yale College.

The discussion concludes by noting that the history of Yale College admissions, including the exclusion of Jews, Catholics, African-Americans, and women, and the changes that occurred in the 1960s, will be explored further, connecting to the themes of communal education and the education of women.