Anaphora In Letter From Birmingham Jail

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” built an empowering voice for his oppressed race over the unjust treatment given to them by the white men who discriminated his people’s color. King addresses how the Negroes have always been told to “wait” throughout all these extensive amount of years. In paragraphs 13 and 14, King emphasizes the word by using anaphora to establish its true meaning, which is “never”.
Paragraph 13 first mentions this statement. It starts off with a reminder that the oppressed must speak up to gain their freedom which will not be given to them so freely by the ones who are the oppressors themselves. Before the usage of the word, it is already shown how the Negroes aren’t expected to have their

own privileges unless they spend their own time to demand for it and hold back until it is gained. Moreover, King insinuated that this problem isn’t seen through the eyes of those who are not a segregated race. The Negroes had been hearing the word “wait” so frequently that “it now rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity.” The great utterance said by King that every person of color could agree to was, “This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never””. Consequently, this one sentence alone spoke to many because 340 years is an unnecessarily extensive amount of time to achieve equality within races. “Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” Therefore, this paragraph represents the true definition of the word “Wait” to the Negroes.