Mercado, 1

Mariana G Mercado
Professor J. Crotser
Humanities 1301
October 30th, 2016
Justice or law?
Martin Luther King Jr delved into the difference between just and unjust laws, in his
letter from Birmingham jail. This is quite an outlandish analyzation of the law seeing that the
majority of society would regard the law as just and that an unjust law would be considered an
oxymoron. But thinking about this proposition that Martin Luther King Jr presents, we must
consider the situation he was in while stating such things; he lived in a world were segregation
was not only common, but the law. Therefore, it makes sense that he believed the law was
immoral and consequently, unjust. However, even though segregation is not practiced in todays
society, the law still does not always coincide with a just result. What Martin Luther King said
about laws still holds true today.
While segregation does not occur at least legally in society today, there are still cases
of unjust laws or court rulings. For example, many cases of black men being shot by police have
slid under the persecution of the law. The lives of those who were wrongly murdered have not
seen justice, and will not see justice with the bias of court rulings. This cannot be taken to mean
that through everything he worked for Martin Luther King Jr did not have an impact on the
bettering of justice in the law, contrarily, he has paved the way for millions of people to live in a
more just society than what he was forced to grow up in. Today, the ratio of just laws to unjust
laws is significantly better than it was a mere fifty years ago. The progress we have made in the

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journey for justice in laws alone should indicate to us that if we continue our campaign for
justice we will achieve the most just society possible.
But even though Martin Luther King Jr started the revolution does not imply that the
struggle is over, far from it. It also does not imply that since he couldnt change the ways of the
law, that we have to yield to injustice and allow it to plague our community unchecked. Knowing
that the law and justice do not always coincide we need to fight a constant battle for the just
against the unjust. True justice in every aspect of our lives is an impossibility for modern society,
yet, this should further our will to pursue Martin Luther King Jrs dream.
Martin Luther King was a revolutionist, a dreamer, a critical thinker and a soldier for
justice. He changed the way we think about laws and justice. In his letter from a Birmingham jail
he clarified the distinction between an unjust law and a just one, giving us the notion that laws do
not necessarily coincide with justice. And even now there is still injustice in laws, not nearly as
much as there were in Martin Luther King Jrs day, but still there nonetheless. This fact that
justice has not fully been attained should not make us shy away from pursuing the just, but fuel
us to fight for it more. We will never stop searching for justice, never stop fighting injustice and
never stop the pursuit of the just law.