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Examples Of Injustice In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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William Kurnik Professor Susienka PH-155-C 12 April 2024 Injustice, and how to overcome it in Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior’s 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail is a testament to the late civil rights leader’s devotion to ending not only racial injustice domestically, but all injustices everywhere. Dr. King gives straightforward and concise direction on how to go about creating change, outlining how individuals can end injustice where they see it by taking direct, but nonviolent action, and calling out injustices where they exist. The author’s letter is a perfect testament to what it means to be a leader, an activist, and an agent of change. King’s Letter, when analyzed alongside …show more content…

In my opinion, I am completely in support of King’s idea that constructive tension is necessary for social change. Others typically present the argument that nonviolent action is not as effective as action through violence. I understand this point of view, and also understand how some may come to that conclusion. Many of those same people cite wars and violent uprisings that have successfully promoted and enforced the ideals and goals of the initial actors, but to this I present to them the many drawbacks of such violent conflict. These drawbacks are obvious, and include death, destruction, political unrest, and societal strain. The nonviolent action that King advocates for is virtually without drawbacks, and such action has the potential to be successful in reaching the goals of its actors. That is why I am in support of King’s views on action, and why I believe that the nonviolent approach and all that comes with it is best. The kind of success that is able to be reached through non-violent action is the same kind of success reached by King's civil rights

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Martin Luther King once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” (par. 4). In the 1950s and 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. was a commendable leader in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. After being arrested in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, King wrote a response to the eight clergymen who questioned his ways. In his “Letter to Birmingham Jail,” King argues that there is injustice in Alabama and defends his protests for racial segregation. King does a successful job in his letter by demonstrating the logic of his position, employing emotional appeals, and establishing his credibility with personal facts.

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