Hello Steemians!

In honor of MLK day, I wanted to take the time to speak on a major topic that MLK himself advocated for: Civil Disobedience. Sure, his most notable speech would definitely be the "I Have a Dream Speech," however, I feel that philosophically, what he says on Civil Disobedience carries a ton of weight as well.

What is civil disobedience? What does he mean?

According to wikipedia: "Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws of the state, and/or demands, orders, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power."

Whoa, aren't laws created for the betterment of people and society?

We all know of the disgraceful things the USA has done to it's citizens in the past (and continues to do), and to be able to recognize what laws are created for/by the people and which are created to hold the people down, is important for the citizens to recognize!

Photo taken from Encyclopedia Brittanica.

That is why I love MLK's talk on civil disobedience. I loved his words so much, I sampled his short speech for the intro song on my debut album. I want to share that with you guys, use some quotes from his speech and explain what it means to me.

https://falseyedols.bandcamp.com/track/c-evil-disobedience

I titled the song "C. Evil Disobedience," as I enjoy puns and incorporated one here! Basically MLK's take on civil disobedience can be expressed in the song title "c [see] evil, disobey." Basically when you see the laws have evil intent, it is your moral responsibility to disobey that law.

Paraphrasing MLK, his speech is something like this:

"There are two types of laws: just laws and unjust laws. We as citizens have a moral obligation to obey just laws, and a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws."

He also goes on to express his highest respect for law, by stating that anyone who breaks a law they feel is unjust and pays the penalties for breaking the law, is upholding the highest respect for the law. MLK was a man who disobeyed laws that were established against him and his common person, yet he was willing to uphold the consequences of laws he didn't believe, to show that he actually had a higher respect for the law than most people!

Although we don't see segregation like we used to, there are still plenty of laws that have not been created with the people in mind. Recognizing and critically analyzing the intent behind laws is a huge responsibility of all citizens!

Thank for your time in reading/listening to this, and if my words or music resonate with you, don't forget to upvote and resteem for others to see and hear! Chime in on the comments if you have anything to add about this!