National Walkout Day Research Paper

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Pages: 6

Imagine this. Thousands or even millions of people protesting against a government. Imagine the police beating innocent people who are peacefully standing up for what the believe in. Imagine those people who are being beaten and harassed, not fighting back. That is what civil disobedience is. Some may say that civil disobedience is not effective and that it is just a waste of time while others believe it is a valid way to protest against a higher power. I believe that civil disobedience is an efficient method of social change. This practice gives the opportunity of self expression, allows citizens to draw attention to the issue that is occurring, and people are capable of fighting against a higher power that violence and war would not …show more content…
National Walkout Day is a perfect example. This event was in honor of the lives lost at the Parkland high school in Florida. Students would leave their class at 10 a.m and stay outside for 17 minutes in honor of the students lost (Kirby 1-2). Since the school shooting at Sandy Hook in 2012, there have been an estimated 290 school shootings since then. There were just 17 in the year of 2018 alone (Wilson 1). For years, people have been protesting for stricter gun laws so things like this would not continue to happen. The government did nothing. The students who fear for their safety at school decided to participate. It is illegal for students to not be in school so leaving in the middle class did have major consequences. An estimated 3,100 walkouts were planned in schools (Kirby 2). Students were taking a stand for what they believed was right. A principal of a school even announced that there would be consequences for students that left in the middle of class. With knowing this, students still followed through with the plan of the walkout eich showed how much they truly believed in the cause. Since so many people had walked out of school, it had definitely caught the attention of the government. Along with National Walkout Day, another example of civil disobedience is the actions of a former janitor of Yale University. Corey Menafee was the maintenance man for Yale University. There so happened to be a certain picture in a stain glass mirror that not every agreed with. In the window, was a depiction of African American slaves holding bundles of cotton. Students of the university had been protesting that the window was taken down, but no action was made. Menafee was sweeping just under the window until he tired of the looking at the picture. He then swung his broomstick and broke the window. His actions cost him his job. However, the