Martin Luther King Jr Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

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Martin Luther King Jr. Has found himself in the Birmingham city jail due to him just trying to defend his people. So, he decided to write a rather lengthy letter to the clergymen to try and explain himself, as well as the reasons for his actions. No one had ever taken time to just be really upfront about how segregated the African Americans and the whites from the south. King made several attempts to make it right, as well as try to meet with some people of higher authority. He was made some pretty serious promises, only to be extremely let down. He may have been in Birmingham, AL when he lived in Atlanta, GA, but that is where the treatment of African Americans is the worst. They were told to nonviolently speak and take action, but that never helped. They decided that direct action was the only thing that was going to work, which would eventually lead to …show more content…

Although I get where he is coming from, I feel as if he almost undoes his argument by using circular reasoning, which is where you repeat yourself over and over again. Also, this argument was used as an example against cultural relativism. There are no rights or wrongs unless it is against your culture. He may think that what they are doing is morally wrong, but if it is right in the other people's culture, then he does not have the right to judge and should be more considerate. Cultural relativism is when your beliefs and morals are determined by which culture you are from, and King does not like that. He wants all wrongs and rights to be the same for everybody. I decided to take my personal life into account. I have my own beliefs and morals, but just because mine aren't the same as everyone else doesn't mean that I judge. It actually makes me more considerate of others. My argument for King would be, if everyone's rights and wrongs were the same, then we would never have the right to judge. Therefore, everyone should have their own rights and