Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is an exquisite testament of human civility. The fact that King was determined enough to write such a powerful letter from the confinement of a jail cell speaks volumes. He could have simply sat back and succumbed to the individuals trying to overshadow him, however, King choose to exalt his freedom of speech in an empowering fashion. At the start of the letter, King states that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” The sentiments from this line alone evokes a subdued, yet powerful message. If one individual or group of individuals is singled out, harassed to the point where they no longer possess the will to live by a fellow American, what does that say about the country? Martin Luther King Jr. makes it clear that being shunned by fellow citizens should not even be an option, if we are all Americans, we should all stand tall together. …show more content…
He does not attempt to intimidate the reader, nor does he appear unreasonable. The imagery the King paints for the reader is dynamic. To ignore the vivid descriptions flowing from the page would be heartless. King points out that for numerous years’ minorities had been told to wait for the rights that were supposed to be automatically given to them at birth. King describes several dehumanizing situations that people of color had to endure such as being rejected for a room at a motel or struggling to find the words to explain to your child why they must be treated different from everyone else. If someone decided to turn away from these dire situations that plagued the country in the past, King made it difficult for readers to forget these brutal moments of history. After all the constant struggling, why should waiting even longer be a