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

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