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Dr. Martin Luther King: The Impossible Dream?

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The Impossible Dream?

April 12, King and nearly 50 other protestors and civil rights leaders (including Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttles worth) had been arrested after leading a Good Friday demonstration as part of the Birmingham Campaign, designed to bring national attention to the brutal, racist treatment suffered by blacks in one of the most segregated cities in America—Birmingham, Alabama. For months, an organized boycott of the city’s white-owned-and-operated businesses had failed to achieve any substantive results, leaving King and others convinced they had no other options but more direct actions, ignoring a recently passed ordinance that prohibited public gathering without an official permit. For King, this arrest—his 13th—would …show more content…

King couldn’t just sit idly in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. King stated that justice anywhere and is a threat to justice everywhere. King stated that we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. King stated that never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an …show more content…

The first example was when he said, “So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here” (1). King used his psychology side letting people know that he can feel their pain of what they’re going through. The second logos were, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham” (2). King talks about principle of divine reason and creative order and how it wasn’t followed the proper way. Lastly, King states, “You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern” (4). King is let the people know that this police officers have no principle with breaking the rules to prove their

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At different times in Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech he uses logos, as well as in “The Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A part from his speech was how Dr. King explained the community which he wants to change or make a difference. “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community

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In the past the city had made many false promises and devastated countless aspirations. The direct action campaign is the only alternative when negotiations fail due to white leaders refusing them. Moreover, direct action creates chaos that forces them to negotiate. King next addresses the reason why he did not wait to see if the new administration within the city a chance to remedy the injustice was that Boutwell is still a segregationist, and “the ‘wait’ has almost always meant ‘never’”, so the black Americans cannot wait any longer. Then King refutes idea that he is supporting some laws but breaking other, he mentioned that there are two type of law: just law and unjust law.

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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (King, Jr.). Martin Luther King Jr. exceeded this “measure of a man” during his civil rights acts as a strong soldier in a very volatile time. During this time of “challenge and controversy” King made himself heard in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In some of his civil rights acts that occurred in Birmingham, resulted in him ending up in jail. During his time in jail, he wrote his also famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

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King uses an appeal to logic brilliantly when he talks about the “negro” community of Birmingham saying, “I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces,” (). This shows the clergymen that there are two sides to the community, one being, “a force of complacency… so drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’ that they have adjusted to segregation,” and the other, “is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence,” (). By doing this, King does not justify his intentions, but rather gives the audience facts so that they can comprehend that his response was, in fact, the most

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Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. (King, para 4). I believe this statement means that anything that happens to one person of the Negro community affects them all. He states, “it is Long 2 even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.” By that statement King means the white left the Negro’s no choice but to fight for their right in this divided world.

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King uses logos effectively throughout the letter to make a compelling case for civil rights. For example, he writes, "The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait.' But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your brothers and sisters at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothered in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait." Here, King uses a comparison to other nations and a rhetorical question to demonstrate the unfairness and urgency of the situation

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Kings rebuttal to the white clergy men was stated in, "A Letter From Birmingham Jail. "In his response, King wants his audience to believe that justice cannot wait. In his phrase, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", King declares that he feels connected to and responsible for everyone who is experiencing this unfairness. He believes that speaking out against these wrong doings is the right thing to do. Which is why King makes his claim of fact that he is not an outsider, but is here merely by invitation.

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We live in a world with currently many conflicts from the racial disparity in high incarceration rates to gun violence and the war over gun rights. In his letter, King describes that Black Americans have no identity and that the oppressed cannot remain oppressed forever. King implies that they cannot be told to “wait for justice” because if they simply

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Although that was enough reason to be in Birmingham King goes on further to say that he is in Birmingham because injustice is here. King says he couldn’t ignore the fact there was injustice in Birmingham regardless if he was an outsider or not. King goes on to say that “injustice anywhere is a danger to justice everywhere” this builds on the theory that “whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Defending his belief on just and unjust laws, King uses a quote of St. Augustine the quote says, “A unjust law is no law at all.” King uses this to answer the criticism on how can you advocate people to obey one law but breaking others.

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He is not just any man protesting for the rights of colored people, but he was the leader and organizer of the protest. He is a clergyman reaching out to the others. King also uses Logos to show readers his voice of reason behind everything that is going on,” I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community.. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible devil.” ( page 540)

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“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” (King). King calms the African Americans who are being oppressed by using the words, “this situation can and will be changed.” and “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” which gives them hope that there will be a new day when a change will take place.

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Also, not only African Americans are vulnerable group, but also are other races, like Asians, fighting for injustice in this so called free land. The effectiveness of words used in King’s speech can be reflected through analysis of his rhetorical tactics. In fact, King’s non-violent ideology is bonded to his religion. Some religious thoughts can be noted in his speech. For example, he refers “God” four times in “I Have A Dream,” he thinks all Americans are God’s children regardless their skin colors.

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