Dr. Martin Luther King's Response To 'Extreme'

LBJ Analysis Essay
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., arrested and sitting in Birmingham jail, wrote a letter in response to the eight clergy men that called his non-violent actions “extreme”. In paragraphs 27-31 of his letters, King defends his actions and argues that “extreme” is justified when it is for the right cause. King adopts an authoritative tone in order to dispute the idea that he is an extremist and that his actions were just. Dr. King uses connotative diction, vivid imagery, and allusions to other great “extremists” to achieve a sense that himself and his fellow activits were in the right with their actions.
Dr. King wrote a letter to eight clergy men, arguin, his connotative diction allowed King to take on a more persuasive tone in response to the clergy. King claims that black people all “consciously or unconsicously, he had been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America, and the Carribean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice.” The zeitgeist

that King mentions is the spirit of the times, something that leads to change. People of race during Martin Luther King Jr.’s times were oppressed, they demanded change. King maintains the idea that he may be an extremist but it is because the blacks and other people of color have been subjugated for too long. King goes on to claim, “Oppresed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro.” The American Negro has been oppressed for centuries, and in the turn of the next century, have begun to realize that they should be treated as equals to the whites. As King, states, freedom manifests and years of oppression will cause an uprising, therefore, his nonviolent extremist actions are justified.
King’s response to the clergy’s letter also includes vivid imagery to argue the clergy’s accusation of extremism. King argues that religion has saved many from causing action that will harm others, “I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philsophy had not emerged, by now may streets of the south would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood.” He argues that nonviolence came through the religious teachings, and if it were not for the teachings, the activism of King’s followers would truly represent extreme when streets flow with blood. King claims that nonviolence had been cemented into the attendants of the Negro church. Nonviolence is what the people follow and if it were not for such an intergration, the violence would ensure. That violence is represented by King’s determined imagery of streets following with blood.
In his letter, King uses allusion to other famous extremists.

He argues, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you’”. The point that King argues that extremism for the right cause is not extremism in the wrong. King maintains the idea that Jesus was an extremist; fighting for love to all, even if people wrong each other. King was also careful to use presidents as examples of “extremists”, “And Abraham Lincoln: ‘This nation cannot survive half salve and half free.’ And Thomas Jefferson: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….’” Using former presidents as support, Dr. King skillfully argues that being an extremist is not neccessarily a bad thing, given the cause that the person is advocating

for.
Throughtout King’s letter, King maintained an authoritative voice, calmly refuting the clergy’s accusations of Dr. King being an extremist. Dr. King makes an argument through the use of connotative diction, vivid imagery, and allusions to other famous “extremists”. He argues that “extreme” is justifible if it were for the right cause, and in King’s case, the equal treatment of the black people.