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Analysis of martin luther king's letter
Analysis of martin luther king letter from birmingham
Analysis of martin luther king letter from birmingham
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Confined to a “narrow jail cell” (9), King admits to writing a rather long letter. With this letter he attempts to appeal to his audience’s logic with reason and ridicule. He explains the reasons to justify his actions and move them to realize that his efforts for equality were in fact peaceful and it was in fact the law and those who enforce it that were in the wrong.
King tries to reason with his audience to make them realize that what they are doing is morally wrong even though at the time it may have been legally allowed.”Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (3). He demonstrated how the laws that were in place at that moment affected in multiple levels the African Americans,
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At one point, he mentions how he feels more and more that “the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will”(5), meaning those who continue to oppress the African Americans have used their time to their own advantage, not for good, but instead, for their own selfish benefit. Meanwhile, those who fight for equality have spent hours, days, even years, but no results. King even goes to mention Adolf Hitler and everything he did in Germany which was seen as “legal” but yet what “Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal’” (4). The ridicule of that is how much damage and hurt he caused to Jews because of the hate he had towards them and it being seen as “correct” yet others who were trying to achieve something for themselves were seen as doing an illegal act. Also, the example of old people and children getting beat, “if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys…”(8). He felt the need to show how ridiculous colored men, women, and children are treated by policemen to show that they’re not what they make themselves out to be. They get mistreated by the same people that get commended by others for having everything in
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. uses a catalogue of personal experiences in order to appeal to the emotions of the reader, also called pathos, by utilizing concrete language, semicolons, and lengthy sentences. He not only entices the emotions of the fellow clergymen he is addressing, but also society in general, attempting to reveal the true situation of the oppressed Negroes during this time in the Civil Rights Movement.
He stated that” privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily”. He illustrated that Negroes realize from their bad experience that they need to confront the society by non-violence tension to persuade whites with their rights otherwise, white people can’t perceive what segregation means. In addition, King supported his claim that delayed justice is never attained. King defended his claim of breaking the laws as there are just laws and in–just laws. He explained that the law, which degrades human personality isn’t a law. He mentioned that” all the segregation status are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damage the personality”. King asserted that there is no democratic law when it doesn’t concern with a part of the society. King provided historical support for the in-just law. He referred to what Hitler did with the Jewish community in Germany was a law. However, no one nowadays is doubtful that Hitler’s law was in-just because he persecuted and killed Jews and prevented any one to assist and comfort them. Consequently, he implied that white clergymen should think about what they did with Negroes and help them as their brothers against
In the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responds to an article by eight clergymen, in which he explains the racial injustice in Birmingham, and reasons why King's organization is protesting for Civil Rights. He introduces himself and his actions at the beginning of his letter. He states that the purpose of his direct action protest is to open the door for negotiation on the Civil Rights. He tries to convince his audience by providing evidence in order to gain his audience to be involved in his movement and support him. He also highlights police actions against nonviolent Negros and crimes against humanity in Birmingham city jail.
...church. With each claim the clergymen provided, King refuted their claim with evidence and more by describing what should be done with segregation laws. King’s tone in this piece was appropriate because he did not come off as someone who wanted to spread hate and prove the clergymen wrong. He genuinely wanted to change their views and show them the flaws of society regarding policemen and even the church. His tone was not threatening or spiteful, he made sure to address that he was trying to come off as respectful and concerned.
To prove his point of what he is mentioning he used Categorical Syllogism for example all people have rights. All African Americans are people; therefore, all African Americans have rights. Thus King wanted to change how people look at African American not as slaves, but just human beings just like the Caucasian people. Injustice laws and justice laws are two different laws how King was mentioning how their laws were injustice because they were treating the colored people without respect, and like if they are
Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", was written to answer a critical "Call For Unity" by a group of clergymen in Birmingham. The clergymen were critical of King for "interloping" in the activities of their city. Dr. King said that he had every right to fight unfairness in the country that he lived in. The letter he wrote, in response to the "Call for Unity", and a statement that he would battle racial inequality wherever it was. The "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was the main point in his life. In this letter, he perfectly described his reasons why he felt this way, appealing to logic, emotion, and ethics.
King proceeds to the latter part of his speech by declaring the need for peaceful resistance. His analogies of man “carving highways of death in the stratosphere” (3) and how non peaceful defiance will contribute to “a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation” (3) soundly depicts his ideals of how African Americans should reach true freedom and equality only through pacifism. He mandates this passiveness in order to bring about change insightfully because his goal is not to wage war against their oppressors but to defeat the evil sentiment held by the nation. King’s remarkable aptitude and brilliant intuition in his dialogue enables the reader to appreciate and concede to his ideals.
Dr. King effectively expresses why his critics are wrong in a passionate tone. He is extremely zealous about the rights that African-Americans have been neglected to have and should have, as well as everyone else. Mr King was criticized for his “untimely” actions in Birmingham. “This wait has almost always meant ‘never.’” (King 264) Martin Luther King isn’t just a bystander witnessing the injustice; he is a victim and one of the few who is willing to fight for justice well deserved.
King clears up any idea that he’s just someone who has broken the law for no reason. He does this by saying; “I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” (Para 15) This statement tells us that Dr. King is simply adhering to his moral responsibility by doing as he’s supposed to. He knows that following a one-sided makes no sense, and it would be submitting to evil. He even goes on to quote St. Augustine, declaring that, “an unjust law is no law at all.” (Para 15) Therefore, the segregation laws that were implemented in Birmingham at the time were by St. Augustine’s logic, no law at
With this intention in mind, he brings up the notion that unjust laws are meant to be broken if the person breaking them has accepted the consequences or if breaking the law is for the bettering of society. King believed that if you break a law that your conscience deemed unjust and accept the punishment in order to make people think about the injustice that the law set in place, you have the highest respect for the law. As stated in the prior paragraph, King refers to the voting system in the state of Alabama and how it is corrupt. The way laws are being voted upon make them unjust, and, therefore, set a baseline for them to be broken. Towards the end of the passage, King brings to light how the police officers were commended for their actions of keeping the protesters in “order and preventing violence”. The white community believed that all laws were just because they did not negatively affect their lives. The black community speaking out and protesting against laws they viewed as unjust were perceived as obscene by the white community. This point of view demonstrates Kings beliefs that unjust laws are breakable, because while the white community in Alabama saw such protests as obscene and unneeded, the rest of the country tuned in to watch everything unfold.
In 1963, Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the South, so civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. brought his campaign of nonviolent resistance to Birmingham. After leading a demonstration on April 12, 1963, King was arrested for violating demonstration ordinances. Shortly after, eight white clergymen in Birmingham sent out a public statement claiming that although they support desegregation, they advise against anymore protests advocated by King, stating that the “demonstrations are unwise and untimely” (Carpenter et al,). While in jail, King took an opportunity to continue his campaign by responding to these eight white clergymen. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King uses religious and philosophical allusions to
... questioning the virtue of vapid judgment, and the merit and efficaciousness of abeyance. This paper has specifically examined his reaction to accusations of civil disobedience, extremism, and admonitions favoring quietism, and the impact his retaliations had on the goal of equality in America. While misrepresentation turns out to be the opposition’s most formidable tool, history, logic and rhetoric serve as King’s strongest allies, allowing him to turn the tenuous arguments of his critics into a formidable bulwark. The letter’s greatest impact on the audience is King’s disambiguation of fact and myth. The fact that his letter was widely publicized proved invaluable to the cause as well. But beyond this, King’s rhetoric allows no room for opposition, only for defense, leaving those in disharmony with his words on the side of immorality, injustice, and villainy.
King said, “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.” I thought this was a great analogy because after he talked about the Constitution and Declaration of Independence related to equality for everyone it helped explain further just how bad the segregation was and he compared it to something anyone could experience. This really made me think about how bad things were but not only that, how it can still be related to today. It also made me upset that they felt like they were “given a bad check” by America especially since it is stated in the Constitution that all men are created equal.
King uses a question and solution expository mode to effectively set up claims about justice and differentiate between two ideas. He asks, “How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law” (16). He starts out with a question, which relates his purpose of exploring what makes a law just (and therefore obediently followed). This questioning shows that he has thought a lot about justice. His actions are well thought out, which tells the clergymen and other white readers that he is sincere and respectful. The solutions he presents are also well thought out, and his explanations seem fathomable. His claim that a law that is in line with moral or natural laws is just seems a given because of the way he set this up.
King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation...But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this