Anzures 1

Erick Anzures

Professor Wolfe

English 101- 101 Lab

24 October 2021

Fighting for the I in Justice

Have you ever wondered how it was initially when people had to fight for the basic rights

we have today? Social activist Martin Luther King Jr. and Aung Sung Suu Kyi were faced with

the conflict of having to deal with an unjust government who did not provide the equality every

citizen should have. Both King and Kyi are important social activists that paved the way for

many ideals we fight for, share, and hold in the modern society. Although they both faced

inequalities in different ways, they both fought with the same value for non-violent solutions.

While serving time in jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a significantly valuable piece that many

understood and followed for many years after being wrote. In his piece “Letter from Birmingham

Jail,” King explained the reason for serving time in jail was due to discrimination and lack of

justice that should not continue to exist. Aung Sung Suu Kyi similarly wrote in her piece, “In

Quest for Democracy,” how she hoped to create a better and stronger democracy for her country,

Burma. Like King, Kyi was placed on house arrest for her peaceful protesting against her

country’s government. Both historical activists fought for change within their democracy, and

they both expressed their ideas in their pieces to share in hopes of a better future. King’s piece,

“The Letter from Birmingham” and Kyi’s piece “In Quest for Democracy” are similar in the fact

that they both oppose their government and express the idea that injustices can be fought

nonviolently but differ in the religion they use to support their ideals.
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Whilst King faced a different scenario from Kyi, they both aspired to live a life where

equality and justice were felt for all. King was heavily involved in civil rights activism and was

hopeful to start a change in the government. Martin Luther King Jr. states in his piece “The

Letter from Birmingham Jail”, that “injustice everywhere is a danger to justice everywhere”

(204). His idea can be interpreted as the fight for equal rights has to start somewhere, and once it

starts, it causes a chain reaction that spreads. The beginning of Aung Sung Suu Kyi’s activist

journey was a true example of King’s quote; the root of her activism started off as her speaking

out against an injustice and moved onto a movement that others began to follow. By Kyi

speaking out and starting a movement, her government placed her on house arrest and cut off all

social ties with others. Subsequently Kyi shared in her piece, “In Quest for Democracy, the root

of a nation’s misfortunes has to be sought inside the moral failings of government” (221). This

helped her people gain an understanding of how the government was at fault for the country’s

poor condition. Through these oppositions by both parties, the peaceful retaliation against their

government began.

Although much of what King and Kyi had faced throughout their journey for justice was

difficult and unfair, they maintained a peaceful character through it all. For most of what we see

now and before, it was not common or essentially ideal to face and fight such a tremendous issue

with only peaceful and nonviolent action. In the case of King Jr, he was faced with both verbal

and physical abuse by the people that did not agree with his movement but still maintained loyal

to his morals of non-violence. According to King in his piece, he states: that “nonviolent

campaigns aimed at ending racial segregation across the South” (202). Kyi faced many house

arrest with very little communication to the outside world, due to her attempt to advocate for

government’s democracy. In the case of Kyi, she also states that she “peacefully used democracy
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to reverse the process of decline” (222). Although she faced this issue, she followed her ideals of

nonviolent action. Both these activists were the pillar of civil disobedience and nonviolent

action; they set forth the idea that change could be made without the use of excessive force. Even

though they were oppressed and silenced, they fought against all odds to make sure justice was

made.

In difference with each other, King and Kyi vary through their spiritual beliefs. While

Christianity was mainly used in America, Buddhism was the main religion practiced in Burma.

In this way, King and Kyi differed; King was a preacher who spread the word of God and

Christianity while Kyi used her knowledge of Buddhism to help her audience achieve a better

understanding of her ideals. In general, religion played a great part in both of their movements;

King proved it true by addressing his letter to a group of fellow Christians and indirectly

addressing it to a highly religious country. Through most of King’s piece there is plenty of

references to the bible, religious argument, and moral appeals. In his letter, King states: “of

course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in

the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the

ground that a higher moral law was at stake.” King directly intended this for the religious

clergyman but also means it to be interpreted that civil disobedience is nothing new and that

many before having fought for injustices. Before him, he is followed by many moral exemplars

from years past yearning for social justice. Kyi felt it necessary to include religion in her

argument for democracy within her country as she explained in her piece, “the ruler must bear a

high moral character to win the respect and trust of the people, to ensure their happiness and

prosperity and to provide a proper example.” Kyi inferred that she was capable to uphold the

democracy she wanted to have due to her high moral character and religious following and
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knowledge. Although they differed in the religious aspect, the only true similarity, they had was

their following for Gandhi’s nonviolent movement. Aside from Gandhi’s movement, King and

Kyi both practiced their spiritual beliefs in a different matter which made them different in how

they viewed certain aspect of their injustices.

To finalize, Martin Luther King Jr. and Aung Sung Suu Kyi both were inspirational and

successful social activists who impacted the way we view and fight for injustices today. Through

their hard work and ambition within their writings, they provided change for the injustices in

their society and built a baseline on the idea of civil disobedience. Both leaders showed what it is

like to act in a nonviolent way in social injustices. Kyi demonstrated how she peacefully fought

the dictatorship within her country by attempting to improve and build a better democracy, and

King fought against the racial segregation in America, which eventually led to their

imprisonment. Through their imprisonment, they exposed their unjust form of government and

gave their people a perception of the unfair laws they were made to follow. Aung Sung Suu

Kyi’s “In Quest for Democracy” and Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

allowed them to express and peacefully retaliate against their government. In addition, they also

exposed the way they were treated and the fact that they were imprisoned without ever

committing a crime. Even though they went through all those events they still stuck with their

morals and faced their issues with nonviolence and encouraged their people do the same; because

as King states in his piece, “oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for

freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the America.” Both King

and Kyi were dedicated social activists with the goal to live a fair and just life and did so by

completing their goals to the best of their ability.

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Works Cited

King Jr., Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Why We Can’t Wait, edited by Martin

Luther King Jr. Papers Project, 1963, pp. 1-10,

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/sites/mlk/files/letterfrombirmingham_wwcw_0.pdf.

PDF file.

Kyi, Aung San Suu. “In Quest of Democracy.” Freedom from Fear. Burma Library, 1992, pp.

167-79, https://www.burmalibrary.org/docs3/In_Quest_of_Democracy-ocr.pdf. PDF file.