As I read , Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” I feel a great sense of sorrow and shame . For those people of , Both , Present and the Past , that exhibit such hate and prejudice against their fellow man . Dr. Martin Luther King's letter is a response to the criticism he received from the , "white moderate", pertaining to his use of nonviolent protest in an attempt to attain racial equality . Martin Luther King , expresses exactly why he and his followers are performing these nonviolent protests . Dr. Martin Luther King , stated a list of true yet unbelievable awful events that happened day-to-day to African Americans .
Subject: The subject of this letter is to state the reason he is in Birmingham for trying to change segregation as social justice and his use of civil disobedience as an instrument of freedom. Occasion: Dr. King is writing this letter from inside Birmingham Jail for being accused of misuse of the law by performing in acts of civil disobedience to show his disappointment at the leadership of the clergy and laws that he and others of the black community deem as unjust. Audience: Although this letter was initially mailed to the eight white clergymen who publicly asked the black community to restrict their Birmingham demonstrations, King meant for his message to reach a much larger audience such as U.S. citizens. King used this letter as
Toulmin Analysis In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King he responds to a letter written by eight, white Alabama Clergymen to the editor of a newspaper in Birmingham. He wants the audience to believe that the clergymen fail to discuss the circumstances that brought about the demonstrations in Birmingham. In September 1962, King had the opportunity to talk with the leaders of Birmingham economic community. The merchants made many promise such as how they would remove the stores’ racial signs. Upon these agreements, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, the leader of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, (including Martin Luther King) had agreed to delay the peaceful demonstrations.
Dr. King fought his whole career for equality amongst the races, meaning all communities with violent, racist actions should be addressed. The clergymen presented Dr. King with a list of arguments they had against him; he responded to these in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. A few of the arguments King responded to from the clergymen were to have local solutions to local problems; to pursue justice in the courts, not the streets; and to keep peace, law, and order among all. Corwin 2 The clergymen of Alabama were clearly against any outsiders coming into their territory. They had called Dr. King an outsider to the Birmingham community.
In many Southern States the force and presence of the Klan was enough to dissuade African Americans from joining the campaign - Mississippi, as state with the highest amount of Klan activity also had the lowest amount of registered African American voters, and the lowest amount of NAACP activists. The Klan’s ability to intimidate African Americans could be viewed as a reason in explaining why it took so long for the Bill to be passed. The open racism of the klan was another big issue for the Civil Rights Campaign. The conspicuous nature of their hate made racism more commonplace, and accepted thing that happened. This de facto bigotry made it more difficult for civil rights activist to change the hearts and minds of the activists, and made politicians reticent about their support of the campaign, for fear of losing public support.
He continues to say that while the protests were unfortunate, it is even more unfortunate that the black community was left with no other alternative action. [624] He explains the steps of any nonviolent campaign and how they appropriately took all these steps before taking action. He says how resistant the white leaders of Birmingham were to negotiations and how they tricked them into believing broken promises. [625] He explains the logic behind the timing of this protest and how they chose the Easter season due to economic withdrawal and added pressure. The mayoralty election was also a factor in the postponing
Tom Robinson exemplifies how racism prohibits justice and fairness in the town of Maycomb. Tom Robinson is a black man that is not treated fairly because of his race. In the town maycomb no one is ever going to believe a black man over a white man. The people in the town are prepared to accept the word of the ignorant Bob Ewell over a decent black man. How the town perceives Tom has a lot to do with how he is treated.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail" on April 16, 1963 to express his views against unjust laws, which discriminated against him others. In the beginning King explains that he is in jail and is taking in the things he has been criticized for. At the time King was extremely aggravated by the way the church, especially the white clergy who was not in support of the religious civil rights movement. He wrote this letter as a response to the church’s separation of holy and worldly matters concerning his cause. The letter then talks about why King was in Birmingham.
He sets out on a personal quest to discover what it is really like to be a Negro. He experiences how, many freedoms and rights that he enjoyed as a privileged white are now forbidden to him. This is a grim and bitter eye-opener for him. In addition, he encounters many racial barriers that exist between whites and blacks, which totally destroys the dignity and self worth of the blacks. But he is unwavering in his will to explain and expose bitter racism.
One could describe him as a man who hated his own race because like whites he saw them as being incapable of bringing about change or gaining the respect of White Americans. Moreover, in his eyes blacks are the reason that no changes occurred after the war, which is the leading factor to his internalized racism towards them. In addition to Sergeant Waters’s attitude towards the black military his death also depicts blacks versus blacks. The death of Waters shows that not only did he hate those of his kind but that they hated him as well because of his ill treatment of them. The film offers increased racial tension among blacks themselves by allowing the murder to be committed by, Peterson, who is a black soldier.