Pappu 1

Rohit Pappu
Mrs. Thompson
AP Lang Block 1, Skinny B
10 May 2015
MLK Essay
A life of privilege is a hard style of life to remove from a person or a society. Once people
of groups have certain privileges, they will do anything to keep them. Groups can be especially
immoral when compared to individuals because there is constant peer pressure from other
members of the group. This peer pressure prevents someone from giving up their privileges
because they will constantly fear repercussions from the other members of the group. This can be
seen in organizations such as the KKK. If white men were invited to join the klan but refused to
join, a cross was set aflame on their lawn, as a warning to them and others that they were now
the enemy of the klan. The dilemma of privilege and its repercussions can be seen throughout
history.
The Civil war was a monumental war in American history that forever changed the
country. Fought between the Northern and Southern states of America, the Civil War was a result
of the Souths stance on slavery. The South succeeded when Abraham Lincoln, a supposed
abolitionist, was elected president. With the firing on Fort Sumter, the South officially started the
Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of american lives would be lost because the South refused to
give up their old ways of life. There was a privilege that came with the owning of slaves, and the
South was adamant not to let that life of privilege go. However, many people from the South
from places such as Tennessee and Arkansas went North and fought against the Confederates. I
believe this is an indication of how individuals sometimes see the moral light and voluntarily

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gave up their privileges. Although these people were fighting against the Confederacy, the
majority of Southerners fought for the South. I believe this is because the people of the South felt
peer pressure to defend slavery at all costs, even though many men fighting did not have slaves.
A good slave cost several hundred dollars and many could not afford them. Only the southern
aristocracy could afford to keep and maintain slaves. It was harder for the South as a group to
give up slavery because everyone felt peer pressure from others, especially the upper class, to
defend it. An example of the peer pressure southern individuals faced from other souther
individuals is seen in the term Scalawag. Scalawag was a southern term for someone who
sympathized with northern causes. These people were usually harassed on the streets and could
not hold political office.I see that other historical events also indicate the dilemma of privilege in
groups.
The Civil Rights movement spurred a notable change in American history. Influential
leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers led a series of protests such as the
March to Washington in order to gain civil equality for blacks. The Civil Rights movement was
spurred by an entrenched idea that being a caucasian was a privilege that no one else deserved to
have.The violence that grew out of these peaceful protests was a result of whites wanting to keep
their privilege. However, as was the case in the Civil War, some white people saw that the
morally right thing to do was to join forces with African-Americans and rally for equality.
However, as a group, caucasians did not accept this equality and sought to keep their privilege. I
believe that most white people thought this way because they felt peer pressure from others,
especially from rich influential people, to fight for their privilege. The group mentality of
segregation put a stranglehold on many white people and forced them to advocate segregationist
policies.

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While privilege is hard for individuals to give up, it is almost impossible for a society to
give up together. People will do anything, including engaging in one of the worst american
versus american conflicts in history, to keep their privileges. Groups have a hard time giving up
privilege because of peer pressure from other members of the group, especially from those with
considerable wealth and influence. Martin Luther King Jr. was right in the fact that groups are
more immoral than individuals, and history proves his points over and over again.