In my point of view a citizen is a member of a community which may or may not follow all the rules and

regulations of the community in which the citizen is a member of. A good citizen isnt always the most
obedient citizen that follows every law, rule, and regulation but one who makes their voice heard when in
disagreement with the laws in which they are expected to live by. A good citizen is a citizen that is active
in their community and is someone who will not follow what they believe to be an unjust law. As citizens of
the United States of America we are expected to speak out and let our voice heard in times of
disagreement with the law. Things that I would do that I would expect any good citizen to do are to vote at
elections, to write letters to the congressman who represent me, to let my problems be known by the
authorities which can help solve my problem, have peaceful protests on matters which need to be brought
up to the light for others to realize that something needs to change. All of those things are things that, if I
took action on, I would consider myself a good citizen. Being a good citizen to me is doing what I believe
is right in accordance with the law except for when a law is unjust. When the law is unjust then it is my
duty as a citizen to protest that law and not follow it because by following it I would not be standing up for
what I believe in and the government would deviate from what its citizens, myself included, want from their
government. A good citizen for the community is in my point of view someone who is actively involved in
the community and someone who is looking out for the benefit of the whole community not just of
themselves. A good citizen to the United States in my point of view is someone with strong pride in their
country, someone who would fight and even die, if necessary, for their country, someone who again
protest against unjust laws but follows all others, and finally someone who is a role model for other to look
up to and follow. David Henry was a strong believer in civil disobedience, which I to believe in. For a
government to be successful in protecting its citizens rights and being a government truly by the people
and for the people, the people being govern have the responsibility to let its government know when they
feel a truly unjust law should be changed or extinguished. Martin Luther King Jr. states We know through
painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the
oppressed in his letter from Birmingham Jail. By this I take that one must protest the laws that are unjust
to let the oppressor, in this situation being the government, has to be told what laws its citizens do not
stand to live by.

This country has come a long way from where it started. I believe that from the beginning this country had
the right idea of government that protected its citizens and also gave them freedom. From the start the
government did not know how to treat slavery, it was a long and heated debate for a long time. They also
said they gave equal rights but woman were not equal to men. The people who did not agree with such
things like slavery, inequality, and segregation protested some peacefully others with force and violence
but all with the same idea, to let others know they were not going to follow laws, and regulations that they
thought were unjust. Due to people like Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Rasa Parks, Henry David Thoreau
among others that have stood up for what they believe in, I am now free to go into a restaurant and sit
anywhere I like, I am able to get a job without my gender being an obstacle, I am able to speak freely
among many other things that I am privileged with because of the people in the past how fought so hard
to have what I take for granted at times. I believe that if it wasnt for the people in the past our country
would not be where it is today and perhaps I wouldnt be as privileged as I am now. I believe it is our

individual right to stand up for what we believe is right and not to follow laws that we strongly feel are
unjust. A lot of people now a days, I feel, do not protest because even though they think the law is unjust
and they do not agree with it, they do not commit to taking action to change things for the better. I think
people in the past were hungrier in terms of how badly they wanted equality but now that most are treated
equally and that the law no longer allows segregation in schools and public places people just sit back
and expect other to stand up for their rights and fight for what they too believe in but are unwilling to take
action towards. I think more people need to stop waiting for others to stand up for them and they should
take the initiative themselves and stop waiting around for something that may or may not happen. The
more we allow, the less freedom we have. It is our duty as citizens of this country to protest with civil
disobedience against unjust laws that need to be changed. We have to be the reinforcement to make sure
we keep the freedoms that others in the past have fought so strongly for. It is our responsibility to stand up
for our rights to be able to keep them and to show others that our freedoms will not be easily taken away,
that we will fight as hard as Martin Luther King Jr. did for what we believe in.