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Martin Luther King's 'Letter From Birmingham Jail'

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King and the Personal Plea Read Martin Luther King's "Letter From The Birmingham Jail" from your course pack and answer the following questions: 1. How does King use his personal experience to make his point? King’s personal experience during his stay in the Birmingham jail letter is based on his daily life experiences. Since Birmingham was one of the most racist places during the fifties and sixties, King found a need to go there and speak up against the racial injustices which were taking place. Although he and others were unjustly incarcerated for standing up for equal rights for all people and against police brutal actions towards black people. King demonstrated an astonishing character of human morals. Through observation and experience …show more content…

How does King use information outside of his personal experience to support his point? Is his approach effective? Why? The outside information King uses to support his point outside of his personal experience is “collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive, negotiations, self-purification and direct action”. King stated: Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated cities in the United States. Its record of police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of the Negros in the courts is a notorious reality. There have been unsolved bombings of Negros homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in this nation. These are hard brutal and unbelievable facts. On the basis of them, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders refused to engage in good-faith …show more content…

King equated his actions as well as other leaders to great prophets and teachers of ancient and biblical times. He also said that “injustices anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. King wrote “just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood”. Therefore, King’s approach is effective in gaining the attention of his audience by stating the truth, presenting various facts in his composition. King went on to say that “we know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”. King uttered that the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in the public-school system in 1954 which should of given all people the right to fair and appropriate education as a

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Dr. King ’s informs his readers of his role as a reglious leader. This tactic estabhlishes his trust and credbility

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In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. is responding to criticism of the peaceful protests and sit-in’s that were taking place in Birmingham, which led to his being arrested and the reason that he was in jail. He first responds to the accusation of being an “outsider” by setting the stage for his being in Birmingham due to being invited because of his ties to the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights organization and due to the fact that he is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Next, Martin Luther King expands on his moral beliefs that there is “injustice” in the way that Birmingham is “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States”.

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No matter what anyone says and thinks, without first hand experience of segregation, lynching, brutality, and inequality one can not understand how urgent such civil rights are and how waiting is not an option. “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair”(Dr. King 2). Dr. King is speaking to the fact

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This is evident because allusions, logos, pathos, metaphors, repetitions, and more are included in his story to develop his ideas. For instance, King stated, “Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the Germans call the Zeitgeist…”(par. 23). By alluding to the Zeitgeist, which is a dominant set of ideas and beliefs that motivate the actions of the members of a society in a particular period in time, King allowed us to visualize the idea that oppressed people cannot remain oppressed because we can compare the urge to freedom as the set of ideals and belief in the Zeitgeist. Another example is that King stated, “It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration”(par. 11).

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In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.

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King Illustrated many of the discrimination and cruelty that was taking place in the South. For instances, he wrote about how the cruel mobs were lynching mothers and fathers, drowning brothers and sisters. Also, Policemen, who are the law, kicking and killing black people. It was also evident that African Americans were poor in the society. He then writes about how can a parent explain to his/her child the discrimination that is taking place.

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uses pathos to pass his message. He evokes emotions among his audience when he discusses the imprisonment of individuals and the treatment they get is an infringement of their basic freedoms. In the letter, he highlights, “But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brother at whim;… when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society” (King Jr. 2). King Jr. tries to convince readers to figure out the extent of this human rights concern. Birmingham's common freedoms circumstance was hopeless, as per King and his detainment by the city's specialists demonstrated it.

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Besides King using pathos, he also makes use of strong ethical appeals with true hard facts. Dr. King’s many sources adds strength to his argument, and presents it masterfully. To clarify his sources, he refers to the need for action throughout history with educational examples such as St. Thomas Aquinas, Paul Tillich, Hitler, and Martin Buber. These examples are advance and ancient, which shows that King did his homework. The Alabama clergymen considered King as an outsider, but with his ethical appeals he presents himself as an insider.

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For instance, he brings facts in his letter to defend his protests in Birmingham. In paragraph 6, he admits that he already has gone all four step of a nonviolent movement including “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action” (801). In fact, his results shows that Birmingham is the city with the most injustices against African-American in the United States. For instance, the city leaders never take the time to solve all the bombing cases and to bring justice to his people. Showing all the “brutal facts” of the city, Kings expresses that his actions are valid because African community is a victim of iniquities (801).

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I agree with him that unjust laws are giving a false idea of superiority and just laws as something that will uplift other personalities, he states, “any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality” (King 3). This is important because he wants to informs his brothers and sisters that the government shouldn’t just focus only on themselves but think of the communities around them. For instance, King states “all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent negroes from becoming registered voters,” which in some countries African-Americans make up most of the populations yet their rights are taken away. Through the use of logos; the appeal to logic, King mentions, “I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit..”

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King wrote about the ways African Americans were treated, and how they suffered just because they were a different race. King believed that the way African Americans were treated was unjust. He believed that If whites were allowed to have their "god given rights", so should African Americans. King believes that "there is nothing

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He gives an example of injustice through blaming the victim when society abuses Jesus and Socrates, who improve the world spiritually and intellectually. Questioning a spiritual figure and scholarly leader causes the audience to question the legitimacy of the white moderates’ logic because they doubt the audience’s beliefs. King cannot control how others react to his protests, but he can continue to try and improve the world through his own methods. Some white moderates find King to be an extremist and consider his protests unnecessary. King compels his religious audience by mentioning the different kind of extremes and how people choose their paths.

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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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Yet that was over 50 years ago, and many people only see him as benefactor of the past and not a source of relevancy to their current lives. Today in 2016, we still struggle with inequalities rooted in prejudice, hostilities and fear. For example, black people not only make up a good source of the incarcerated population, but they are jailed at several times the rate of whites. Studies also prove that Black people are more likely to be shot by cops. However, King states that “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”, (Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963).

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King was in Birmingham because he was invited to engage in a nonviolent direct action program, due to the injustice suffered by African- Americans in Birmingham. African-Americans were considered by many to be “outsiders” to this country, even though they were born in this country. King was not going to stand by and allow this to continue. Instead, King peacefully protested and resulted in him being put in jail. King used his voice in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to express and encourage others to stand up to these injustices.

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