King & Coates

Both Coates and King want the same thing; justice. They both want the same thing, but they both have different ways of getting it. We all know that Martin Luther King Jr. was all for non-violent protest and didn’t like violent protests. He believed that these peaceful protests were more effective. If Coates and King were in a room together, there would be a lot of disagreement. In his letter, King wrote that society needs to accept and welcome non-violent protests because if they didn’t, eventually the black community will turn to violence. Coates would disagree with King about being non-violent. He believes that the people have the right to riot. In both pieces of writing, they mentioned how the police aren’t looked at as the problem. Coates says that the city covers the violent and brutal actions of the police. King mentions how the church commends the police force of doing a good job. I think they both have a lot of the same views, but their ways of getting justice really sets them apart. Coates would argue that violence is necessary to obtain justice and King would be totally against that. Coates would be against peaceful protests because it won’t get the job done. The black community’s anger is more than justifiable. They have a right to be angry. I think because these pieces of writing are written in very different times, their views are very different. They would both agree that people are concerned about protests, whether violent or non-violent, but they’re not concern about what leads to those protests. If I was in this debate, I would ask Doctor King to try to understand Coates point of view. It’s not right that people are still fighting for justice that black people are still getting beat and killed by a police force that’s supposed to protect them. I forgot where I heard it from or who said it, but I remember someone talking about how people are complaining that these protests are blocking the highway. That person said that those highways will be there tomorrow, that they’re lives will go on as nothing happened the next day, but that the people who are protesting will still have to be fighting for justice. I would tell Coates to also look at Doctor King’s view and see where he’s coming from. He believed that time should be used wisely. I’m not for fighting violence with violence, but when a community has been facing unjust for a long time and when their kids are getting gunned down, should they just sit on a sidewalk and hold up signs?