Introduction
The term ethical response refers to the non violent campaign against the minority groups in society. There are several injustices against humanity that occur globally. The first step in ethical response is gathering data to determine the nature of discrimination. After gathering the facts, the next stage is the purification stage. This involves training the oppressed people on how to participate in the ethical response process.
The main lessons here are how to avoid hitting back even when they receive attacks. The ethical response process should come after the negotiation process with the oppressors fail. The final stage in the ethical response process is the direct action.
The process should not be characterized with any form of violence. There are several forms of injustices that happen globally (Piccolo 100-106). Racial discrimination is the worst form of injustice that happens especially in the American states. The two articles in this essay focus on ethical response that is a result of racial discrimination.
Thesis
There are several forms of injustices that are evident around the world. Ethical response is a non violent campaign against the injustices towards the minority group in society. This entails creating constructive tension by using non violent means to achieve freedom.
Oppressors never grant the individuals they oppress freedom voluntarily. They always have to find non violent ways of getting themselves out of the bondage. This is mainly after dialogue fails to bring up the desired results.
Ethical response in the two articles
The first title of the first article is “Sherman Alexei’s the joy of reading & writing: Superman & me”. The writer of this article is an Indian author who resides in the Eastern Washington state. The author of this article is Sherman Alexei. Sherman learned the art of reading by making use of a superman cobic book. The family lived on a combination of government surplus food, hopes and irregular paychecks.
This was a substandard form of life for the family. The father was a vivid reader, and he exposed the author to several reading materials. Because of this, the author could view everything around the world as paragraphs. The white did not expect Indian students to perform well in class work.
The author overcame this form of discrimination by reading several books. This made him fight with his classmates under several occasions. The Indian children viewed as poor performers in the non Indian environment (Cohen 15-18).
The second article in this essay was the product of Martin Luther king, Jr. The author was in jail in Birmingham because of parading crusades without a permit. The topic of this article is “letter from a Birmingham jail (King, Jr.). This is because of the injustices that were taking place in Birmingham.
The Negroes had severe treatments especially in the courts. From both articles, the minority group’s discrimination was on the basis of their race. Both situations call for an ethical response of coming up with a solution (Cohen 203-217).
Martin Luther King, Jr came in to help his clergy men to liberate themselves from captivity. The main aim was to engage in a direct action that did not have any form of violence. Despite several demonstrations in Bellingham, the white authority left the Negro community without a solution. There were several bombings in Negro homes and churches within the Bellingham city.
The city fathers refused to engage into dialogue with the Negro community. There were several workshops on non violent action that would enable Negro to accept blows without retaliating. These seminars were vital in the process of ethical response to the situation at hand. This was to ensure that the participants do not indulge in any criminal offences (Cohen 203-217).
There were mayoral elections in Bellingham and the Negro kept on postponing the direct action until the elections were over. The Negron’s could not give the new city time to act because they are not different from their colleagues. Ethical response calls for avoiding any actions that can lead to violence. The Negron community did not engage in immediate actions.
The demonstrators had to wait for the city residence to elect a new mayor. There was a new mayor in the city but, Negron went ahead with their plans. The main reason for this was that the white had the same mentality. The oppressors were the same and the only way they would deliberate themselves was by going ahead with the action plan (Cohen 203-217).
Alexei the author of the first article did not accept failure because he was smart, arrogant and lucky. The author spent most of his time reading novels in order to improve his intellectual ability. The author describes himself as a reader of anything that had words and paragraphs. The author became a writer because of the reading background. He currently writes novels, short stories and poetry just to name a few.
Most Indians did not engage in such writing activities at that time. Writing was something beyond the capacity of Indians. The author visits many schools and several Indian kids have become writers. They have also become excellent readers as they try to redeem their lives. This is a perfect approach to ethical response in solving the injustices done to Indians in the learning institutions (Cohen 15-18).
Indians currently put in more effort in reading, and writing so as to prove that they can be smart. This is an ethical response because they are using non violent means to win their rightful place in society.
From this approach, it is clear that ethical response does not require violence for it to be accomplished. All it requires is the determination because it does not come along easily. Ethical response calls for the spirit of not giving up (Cohen 15-18).
Non violent action is vital because it creates tension that allows for negotiation. This is especially in a case where there has been a group that has been resisting a call for dialogue for some time. Freedom should not take too long to be evident among the minority groups. This form of discrimination is even evident among children. Some of them enquire from their guardians why the white treat the black so meanly.
There comes a time when endurance can not be borne any more. This is the point when a call for action comes in handy. The call for action is a legitimate concern despite the critics leveled against it.
Every citizen has the moral responsibility to obey the laws that are just. Citizens have the right of disobeying the unjust laws. Just laws are always in harmony with the moral laws of the society. Ethical response calls for the promotion of just laws to all people in the society.
Most white people prefer negative peace that has no justice to a positive peace in the nascence of justice. There is no timetable for freedom of humanity. The Negron could not wait for a season before their liberation came. The only way to cure injustice is uncovering it through ethical responses.
Such actions are not pleasant in the eyes of the oppressors. Ethical response calls for an immediate action. The minority group should not wait for the oppressor to grant them freedom. However, the response should be within the moral limits of the society.
One form of segregation in the second article is that even church ministers participated in the segregation. There were churches for the Negron and those for the white. Some ministers had started to invite the Negron in to their services.
However, most church ministers supported the law more than the moral responsibility of the church. This took place even in cases where the law contradicted the moral expectations of the church (Cohen 203-217). The minority group should release these expressions in non violent before it is late. Ethical response promotes extremists on the basis of love.
Conclusion
This essay is on ethical response in society. The author in the first article is an Indian living among the white in Washington. The discrimination among the Indians was mainly evident in schools. There was a belief that Indians could not be excellent writers. The author beats this argument by spending most of his time reading several books and articles. He ends up making a perfect writer and a role model to several young Indians living in Washington.
The actions of Alexei portray a perfect example of an ethical response. The author in the second article was in jail for parading without permission. He was among the people who were advocating for the rights of the Negron community.
The community was under discrimination from the white people in Bellingham. All the attempts of dialogue between the white and the Negron community were not fruitful. The best way was to course tension that would force there to be dialogue. This is another form of ethical response that is vital in fighting discrimination against the minority groups in society.
Works Cited
Cohen, Samuel. 50 essays: Third edition. Bedford: St. Martins, 1963. Print.
Piccolo, Francesco, and Thomas, Huw. Ethics and planning research. Burlington: Ashgate publishing company, 2010. Print.