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A Comparison Of Letters From Birmingham Jail By Dr. King

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Despite both being wrongfully imprisoned, MLK and Lakhdar had very different responses and ways of acting. Both Dr. King's "Letters from Birmingham Jail" and Lakhdar's "My Guantanamo Nightmare" discuss the experiences of being treated unfairly solely because of the way one looks. The goal of both works was to tell their story, which was similar. You can see from reading both works that one piece of writing expresses more emotion than the other, although both pieces of writing show that they had similar feelings. Both Dr. King and Lakhdar were tragic victims of violence; Lakhdar experienced racial profiling while Dr. King was subjected to police brutality. As a result of those incidents, both eventually found themselves behind bars. During …show more content…

King chose to organize a different kind of protest known as a "Demonstration" that required the demonstrators to march silently up and down the hill. Sadly, throughout the entire process, negroes were judged, beaten, and killed for no apparent reason. He says “You warmly praised the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I don't believe you would have so warmly praised the police force if you had seen its angry violent dogs biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I don't believe you would so quickly commend the policemen if you would observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of Negroes here in the city jail, watching them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls, slapping and kicking old Negro men and young boys, or refusing to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I'm sorry that I can't join you in your praise for the police department.” This means, Even though they are the ones harming people, police are receiving praise from all over the world. The demonstration was held not only to demand the release of negroes but also to expose the world to the atrocious behavior of the police. Fortunately, when he wrote the letter when he was imprisoned, it was seen by

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404 Words | 2 Pages

When reading the first article “King (1963) Letter from Birmingham City Jail”, Dr. King address his concerns about the criticisms and how they claim him to be an outsider who comes to cause trouble. He provides a main reason for him being there, which is to battle the injustice that remains in Birmingham, feeling compelled to work for justice anywhere. I knew that Dr. King wrote a letter in Birmingham jail but I didn’t know the reason why he was put in there, on April 12, 1963 the city prohibited civil right marches that were happening in Birmingham, not wanting to fail King lead a peaceful march that got him arrested with some of his fellow followers. I found it interesting how king did what he did because of the movement of freedom and this

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690 Words | 3 Pages

appeals to the audience’s emotions to advise and show the people of Birmingham the reason for the nonviolent parade throughout the streets. First, King identified the brutality and the unjust treatment the African American were experiencing in Birmingham Alabama. This helped him show the Clergymen that his actions were not unprovoked that African Americans were not getting the treatment that they deserved and that was the reason for having the parade because he could not sit by any longer and watch the brutality continue. He wrote a lot about the Inhumanness and anguish that African Americans faced and stated, “As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us.” (King 175).

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760 Words | 4 Pages

Dr. Martin Luther King and Frederick Roosevelt are both strong powered speakers of equal rights. These two amazing people have talked and fought for equal rights of every human being. With that, they’ve both have similarities in their amazing speeches letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King and four freedoms speech by Roosevelt. In 1963, MLK wrote a remarkable letter to the clergyman following his arrest In Birmingham. Whereas in 1941, Roosevelt published a speech to Congress on the state of the union.

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607 Words | 3 Pages

Whether it was between the various bombings of African American households, offensive and racist segregational legislation, or the prevalent consistency of discrimination against colored people throughout the entire history of the United States, certain individuals like Martin Luther King Jr. assured their energy would be spent battling against the racial discrimination during the 1960s. Consequently, King’s efforts to non-violently protest still led to his imprisonment in Birmingham City on charges that had violated Alabama’s legislation against mass public demonstrations. While imprisoned at the Birmingham City Jail, King utilized any sort of material to compose his own literary wrath in response to white-clergymen who had previously criticized

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484 Words | 2 Pages

In April of 1963, Martin Luther KIng Jr. Traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to hold a peaceful protest against racism and how African Americans were being treated. Due to the following he was thrown in jail for it being illegal. He later wrote “Letter From Birmingham Jail '' to show his intelligence against racism. In the “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr. he was thrown in jail because he did an illegal peaceful protest. He protested illegally because he knew that the form wouldn’t be accepted.

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895 Words | 4 Pages

With the help of these four steps, he justifies the need for the demonstration. King illustrates the city of Birmingham as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States,” (King 2). Here King is able to show that injustices are present in Birmingham, which further justifies his reason for a peaceful demonstration. King proceeds to speak about his method of protesting. He states that negotiation was not met, and that “[their] hopes had been blasted,” that like “victims of a broken promise,” their wishes had been disregarded, (King 2).

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182 Words | 1 Pages

“The Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a letter to eight white clergymen who responded towards King’s acts of protests of segregation. Segregation in the 1960’s was alive and well in the U.S but mainly in Birmingham, Alabama. King went to the city of Birmingham because of the injustice that was happening to fellow black Americans, blacks were limited to their rights, black Americans had a hard time to vote, had to give up their seats on buses, had to use different restrooms, and many other daily issues. King went into Birmingham to protest segregation, which is the separation of groups because of their racial differences, and King wanted an immediate stop to it. “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” is an effective letter.

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183 Words | 1 Pages

Dr. King was a strong voice for the Negroes and a champion who led them to fight against the unjust laws of segregation. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was used as a way to ask for support from the church leaders, defend himself against the criticism the church leaders had made of him, to admonish the churches to take a stand just as Christians had done in the past and to point out his reasons for not only standing with the Negro community to fight the good fight but committing to lead the people in their fight. He took his role as if called by God just as much as he was called to be a minister. In conclusion, King was right to go to the church leaders for help. If those leaders had stood with King instead of letting their

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572 Words | 3 Pages

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in order to bring attention to the racial prejudice that was occurring in America. In his letter, King discussed his and his family’s experiences with racism. He also justified him protesting in Birmingham. In addition, this influential individual wrote about his Christian faith and how it influenced some of his behavior.

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He was their voice. Throughout the “letter” Dr. King demonstrated pathos by engaging his readers of the struggle of being an African American descent. Dr. King starts off by letting his readers know that he was confined during the time of the letter was written and he was addressing the eight clergymen who called his action of a peaceful protest “untimely and unwise”. (King Jr., p. 645) However, he continues to explain his reason for being in Birmingham by saying that injustice was present and he could not just sit in another state and watch it;” Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

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726 Words | 3 Pages

King follows the rest of the letter with more emotional cries, which included the split that had formed within the black community, on the argument of civil rights; Some had begun to settle for segregation, including some of the clergymen who had criticized King. Near the end, he opposes the clergymen's praise toward the Birmingham Police Department, by providing a vivid description of the attack on himself and his fellow protesters, leading up to his arrest. MLK closes his letter by stating his current situation, apologizing for the letter's length, and portraying a deep sense of pity, as he wishes for all to find faith for a better future. Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham City Jail makes heavy use of ethos and logos to clarify issues and concerns from his criticizers, but relies even more on the emotional connection that it portrays on the reader.

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891 Words | 4 Pages

On Wednesday, September 28th, I led a seminar analyzing two pieces of work from the Liberal Studies Reader for LIBS 7001. The first, To My Old Master, is a letter written from the point of view of an emancipated slave, Jourdon Anderson, in response to his old master from Big Spring, Tennessee asking Anderson to return to work for him. The second, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written by Martin Luther King Jr., is a response to a letter from a group of Alabama clergymen, who critique King for being “unwise and untimely” (King, 1963) in his direct action approach protesting the racial segregation and discrimination that was prevalent in Birmingham. Kathy Dam, Romolo Ferrari, Mike Pendon, Alexey Skiba, and I focused our analysis and discussion

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2203 Words | 9 Pages

The Civil Rights Movement & the Black Middle Class: A Proposal In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired a generation with his "I have a Dream" speech. He said that he wanted his children to grow up in a country where they were not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Today, over a quarter century later, one looks at contemporary society and wonders how well has America lived up to this challenge. While there are certainly still problems with race relations, discrimination still exists and hate-crimes still occur, an argument can be made that American society has come a long way towards realizing King's goal.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

Participating in a protest, even the nonviolent kind, was a massive risk, and by partaking in one, a person could sacrifice many things. During the second Selma march, police were determined to stop the protestors and armed themselves with tear gas, clubs, and even police dogs. At the sight of the heavily armed police, unafraid to use their weapons against innocent people, Dr. King decided to turn around. He believed that the time was not right, and in the meantime, they should all pray and reflect on the purpose of the march before trying again. But for many, the urge for voting rights and equality was stronger than the desire to be safe.

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1119 Words | 5 Pages

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he provides answers to fundamental metaphysical questions regarding the nature of the human soul. Though his letter is addressed to a group of eight clergymen criticizing his direct action campaign in Birmingham, his ultimate aim is the uplifting of human personhood. Underlying King’s letter is a philosophical, hylemorphic anthropology which puts an anchor deep into a certain conception of personhood, and binds all people who are to read it. He looks deeply at the nature of human beings, as rational creatures who are made to love and be loved, and from thence, deliberates that there is a universal Gospel of Freedom and Justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. asserts that there are universal principles justifying what actions are morally right and wrong, just and unjust.

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