Luther King Jr's Essay 'The Ways Of Meeting Oppression'

People face oppression in different ways every day, and they also deal with it in different ways. Oppression is one of the things that has been around from the beginning of time and one of the instances of mass oppression was during the Civil Rights Movement in America. It was a time where African Americans were fighting for racial equality in America. The Civil Rights movement was one of the most important fights for a select group of people in the modern era. It was a time where people stood up to oppression in different ways such as Rosa Parks refusing to move from her seat on the bus. One of the main figures in this movement was Martin Luther King Jr, and he had his own opinion on the right way and the wrong ways to meet oppression. In the essay “The Ways of Meeting Oppression”, Martin

These repeated phrases is seen when he is directly addressing his target audience of “The American Negro multiple times. The first instance is the line “The Negro cannot win the respect of his oppressor by acquiescing, he merely increases the oppressor’s arrogance and contempt” (MLK, Par. 3). With this the reader finally gets confirmation who who he’s addressing. This would appeal to African Americans reading this at the time, but not too many others so he possibly limits who would be interested in this essay but also is explaining to them why acquiesce is not the right way to meet oppression. Another interesting part of the essay is when he addresses the African American community. Before he gets to the third way, he only addresses them three times, in the final argument he addresses them seven times. He almost sets up a list of why non-violence is the best way to meet oppression. He appears to make a point that this is the most important section to his target audience by addressing them multiple times in rapid succession. It keeps the reader alert by being addressed so many