Thomas Aquinas who declared that an "unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law" or those created by God. "Any law that uplifts human personality is just," while "any law that degrades human personality is unjust" ("Letter," Internet).
These unjust laws, in the eyes of Dr. King, are those which forced his fellow African-Americans in the 1950's and 1960's to live under a repressive system of segregation, discrimination and racial bias designed by powerful and influential white Americans, such as those in the federal government and many state and local jurisdictions, especially in the Deep South where African-Americans were viewed as second-class citizens and undeserving of the rights and privileges afforded to white Americans. Dr. King then points out that the 1954 Supreme Court decision which made segregation illegal "is morally right;" thus, all African-Americans must "disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong" ("Letter," Internet). It is exactly this type of attitude that landed Dr. King in jail many times, yet he pushed...
As to the question "What can we do to guarantee the civil rights of all Americans?" The answer is quite simple -- as a people, we must understand when a law is just and when it is unjust and then apply just laws to our lives. In essence, by following the laws of the land, all Americans will be guaranteed civil rights, something for which Dr. King gave up his life, thus creating his legacy which continues unabated to this very day.
Bibliography
Letter from Birmingham Jail." University of Pennsylvania. Internet. Retrieved at http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html.
Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham City Jail." USInfo.state.gov. February 2007. Internet. Retrieved at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=February&x=20070205165927eaifas0.9735529.
