The Oppressor and The Oppressed

Here’s an interesting article about Martin Luther King Jr. and his essay about the ways of meeting oppression. Have a moment of thought.

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Dr. King’s The Ways of Meeting Oppression is an essay about the ways in which oppressed people deal with their oppression. Dr. King came up with three key characteristics or traits in which the oppressed faced oppression.

The first characteristic that Dr. King mentions is acquiescence. Acquiescence of the oppressed signifies their being accustomed to oppression and their eventual willingness in despair to give in to being oppressed. He was very much against this trait and had written: “To accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the oppressor.”

The second trait is hatred and violence. This is another method that he disagreed with. King explains how violence only creates temporary results and creates more complicated problems in the future. As a minister and a believer in peace, King simply rejected violence as a solution to the freedom from oppression. He also believed that this form will only bring injustice to future generations. He explained how violence today will bring chaos tomorrow. An excellent statement made by Dr. King to disprove this method is, “The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind."

The third and final trait was nonviolent resistance. This form of dealing with oppression was strongly supported by Dr. King. He believed that the oppressed must consider the benefits of both acquiescence and aggressiveness. A line in Dr. King’s essay which best describes this policy is “… the principle of nonviolent resistance seeks to reconcile the truths of two opposites – the acquiescence and violence – while avoiding the extremes and immoralities of both.” King believed that this was the best method and in order for it to be successful, the African-Americans “must work passionately and unrelentingly”.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was undoubtedly a great leader and a great radical philosopher who is still admired the world over.

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Source: 180 Definitive Modern English Essays by Bennet Albert, M.A. published by Crescent News.