Confront Injustice Martin Luther King Jr. was an ordained minister and one of the best known civil rights leaders. He worked very hard to end segregation and injustices in the south. While participating in a program of sit-ins at luncheon counters, the famous theologist was arrested. In consequence King wrote, “a Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which he addressed to a group of white clergymen in an attempt to demonstrate the justices of his views. Within the letter King describes an unjust law as, “a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself” (259).
Thesis Martin Luther King, Jr., through the use of eloquent writing and appeals to emotion, refutes several local religious leaders' criticisms of the his and the SCLC's outside involvement and nonviolent direct action taken to draw attention to and build support for the end of segregation, not only in Birmingham, but all of the United States. Main Points First King refutes idea that he is an outside agitator that doesn’t belong in Birmingham, as he and several members of his staff were invited to the city by a local affiliate organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He also asserts that his involvement there is valid, as “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” as communities are connected and affect each other indirectly.
This a situation that happened to Rodney King in 1992. Rodney was traveling at a high rate of speed; he was refusing to stop. Once he was stopped, three police officers were kicking, brutally beating Rodney King with metal batons while he was defenseless (Pollack, 2017). This was a high profile case which the officers used excessive force to get him into custody. The L.A. Community erupted when they saw the video that surfaced which showed the brutal beating that he received (Harari, 1993).
In his ‘Letter From Birmingham City Jail,’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”(King 64). Though his specific fight during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s served as dismantling segregation laws in which separated white and black Americans—particularly in the Southern states of the United States—King preached and sought to obtain human rights for all individuals of all colors and sizes; this is seen through his affiliations with multiple organizations which include The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. King’s findings and ideologies serve in correlation with the establishment of the United Nations and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948: “Whereas Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all member of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). King’s activism and commitment to people served a contributing factor in the creation and continued presence of organizations such as the United Nations, and their subsidies, which strive to enhance the development of countries throughout the globe—in particular south nations—ensuring that all beings of this earth are ensured their human rights.
Yadata Osman Dr. Robinson Survey of Philosophy of Thought 11/30/2015 Paper 2 There have been many unjust laws throughout history. Citizens obey the laws because they are enacted by the leaders of government. The opinions against laws are expected and tolerated to an extent.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King Jr. says this in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He says this because he feels responsible for everyone in Birmingham and “whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly”. Everything needed to be right or that it would eventually affect everyone and everything. The reason he wrote this letter was because he was trying to convince the eight clergymen that him and his people should use the demonstrations that King provides because it would bring Birmingham out in so many ways.
Martin Luther King Jr. develops his reasoning for being in Birmingham by noticing the injustice that within the city. Injustice is the reason why King is in Birmingham county jail. Injustice is the reason why he is in Birmingham. Martin Luther King Jr. starts off his letter by responding to the clergyman’s response. The clergyman call King’s actions “Untimely & Unwise”, King answers “Seldom, if I ever, do I pause to answer criticism for my work & Ideas…
Breaking the Unjust Laws Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, an activist, and a principal leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the U.S for over fifteen years. Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr. was influenced by Henry David Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln, and some other freedom-fighters, is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using non-violent civil disobedience. He only not began the Civil Rights Movement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but also became an icon for the entire movement as well as a national icon in the history of modern American liberalism. King method of writing was highly effective in critical analysis and reasoning so he knows as eloquent writer. Martin Luther King’s opposition against racial discrimination and immoral laws is correct and I agreed with the statement “An unjust law is no law at all” as it goes against the widely-accepted
Martin Luther King Jr. says he shouldn’t pay attention criticism or he and his secretaries wouldn’t get any work done. Although, he feels like he must explain why he did what he in Birmingham because people were being persuaded to the reasoning of the “outsiders coming in. ”King argues that you can never be an outsider if you live in the United States, because you must know your rights to protect to them. MLK was serving as president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Birmingham branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference invited MLK to participate in the direct-action program if needed.
Literary Analysis Kelsey Ganzon Ela ⅘ Cormy Civil rights: The rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality. This is something everyone should be guaranteed to have. Today we are all equal, but it always wasn’t like that. Martin Luther King Jr. changed society forever.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very established man who influenced America to make leaps and bounds in regards to racial injustice. He was born on January fifteenth, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, and led a very normal, two parent childhood, his father being a preacher and his mother also being very involved with the church, along with his two siblings. Martin realized during his youth what a devastating toll inequality was taking on America. An example of this would be when a young Martin and his father went into a shoe store and they were told they will not do business with “colored folk” in the front of the store; this hurt Martin’s feelings greatly, but his very religious mother had always told him, "even though some people make you feel bad
Our society has been subject to different forms of injustice for hundreds of years, such as slavery followed by decades segregation and discrimination. Discrimination is a common thread in the United States throughout the years, and even though slavery has ended, discrimination continues today in many forms. People who have felt discriminated against have responded in many ways from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s to the Black Lives Matter movement of today. Los Angeles in the 1990s was still a place of segregation that led to discrimination and racial tension. The Los Angeles riots (or the Rodney King riots) in 1992, were another painful but eye opening event in the long fight for justice.
Anthony Mendoza Nagle English II CP September 14, 2015 Summer Assignment Over the summer, I choose to read Fast Food Nation. This book was really an eye opener to me towards fast food chains. The main idea of the book Fast Food Nation is to show the dark side of the fast food industry. The author supports this throughout the book by talking about the workers of the food industry, quality of meat served and advertisement aimed towards children.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent man, who aided the fight for civil rights. Due to the unjust treatment of African-American, the Civil Rights Movement was formed to create a new outcome for the future. During the battle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became imprisoned in Birmingham city jail due to his participation in a nonviolent demonstration against segregation. While imprisoned, he wrote a letter on August 1963, called the "Letter from Birmingham Jail;" he expressed his concerns as to why there has been no advancement for the civil rights movement. While dissecting and analyzing his letter, his moral theory from this letter describes him to be a virtue ethicist.
Martin Luther King Jr. Facts Martin Luther King Jr. was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King, a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among his many efforts, King headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Through his activism and inspirational speeches he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the United States, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
