Where did the meme come from that civil disobedience requires you to sit in jail afterwards?

[Number23]

42. Amen. I continue to be flabbergasted by how little so many people in this forum know about

the Civil Rights Movement. I keep waiting for the lack of knowledge to hit the floor (the post last month comparing surveillance to an MLK speech just about did me in) but the floor somehow keeps dropping.

This sentence in the OP: And the political climate was such that they couldn't keep people like Lewis or MLK Jr. in jail for very long or make criminal penalties or prison treatment so severe that people get broken.

made me actually gasp out loud. As if the government -- because it was the government as in the police, the courts, politicians, judges etc. aided and abetted by a hell of alot of "good" US citizens that were the greatest impediments to black civil rights -- needed to put anyone in jail in order to "break" them. The sound of a cop car pulling up in the driveway was enough to break a hell of a lot of people. Lots of folks never even made it to the damn jail cell to GET broken.

If you want to worship at the altar of Snowden, you are free to do so. But reducing the unbelievable sacrifices made by the many, who were "civilly disobedient" to the point of risking their lives, to being merely a 'meme' is despicable.

Thank you. I mean that. And I meant to say this before in response to your post to 1SBM's thread, but as far as I'm concerned you are always welcome in the AA forum here.