If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. This letter was in response to one written by church leaders in Birmingham condemning the actions of Martin Luther King Jr. and his compatriots. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants--for example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. Socrates was a Greek Philosopher who lived even before Jesus. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured. picture of the true events of Birmingham, forcing his audience to be involved in his cause. had, using such eloquent word choice. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Letter from Birmingham Jail is Martin Luther Kings most famous written text, and rivals his most celebrated speech, I Have a Dream, for its political importance and rhetorical power. The first, if you, is combined with brutal depictions of the events in Birmingham as It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. He points out that everything Hitler did in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s was legal, because the Nazis changed the laws to suit their ideology and political aims. As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. King made use of ethos, pathos, and logos in his letter; three powerful rhetorical devices that make various appeals to the target audience. Dr. King often used repetition and parallel construction to great emotional effect when he spoke. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. In King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", he is addressing several clergymen who are criticizing his actions during the protest. This letter serves as a purpose to apply the need for love and brotherhood towards one another and avoid all the unjust laws. Repetition in letter from birmingham jail 2nd Place Non-Fiction In 1963 when "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was written by Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights movement was in full swing. understand why we find it difficult to wait. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. 1 More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty. But what you have to understand is that segregation was so deeply ingrained into the culture of the American South that anyone who spoke out against it could find themselves in serious danger. m.pdf. You cannot read Dr. Kings words and stay distanced. clergymen and their praise of the Birmingham Police, his language is anything but passive: This is difference made legal. But why? People in the church have made a variety of excuses for not supporting racial integration. seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she cant go to the public amusement An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. Direct link to David Alexander's post He challenged the racist , Posted 2 years ago. Lines 14-43: King provides three different types of reasons in his letter to justify his presence in Birmingham: Organizational reasons, religious or historical reasons, and moral reasons. clergymen (seven Christian, one Jewish) on the recent events in Birmingham. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative. them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. for peace, watch helplessly as an innocent child develops and unconscious bitterness. Dr. King If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws. I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. You can read the letter in full here if you would like to read Kings words before reading on to our summary of his argument, and analysis of the letters meaning and significance. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience. Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured? I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. And yet little by little, it becomes clear that Dr. King intends this statement for a much larger audience. "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Analysis. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. Thanks to Dr. King's letter, "Birmingham" had become a clarion call for action by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, especially in the 1980s, when the international outcry to free Nelson Mandela reached its zenith. Our first reading on this front was Martin Luther King Jr.'s " Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963). We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. That MLK wrote about Socrates while in jail may have to do with the fact that Socrates was also put into jail, and even executed, for thinking, teaching and writing. In Letter from Birmingham Jail, King answers some of the criticisms he had received from the clergymen in their statement, and makes the case for nonviolent action to bring about an end to racial segregation in the South. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University). Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. civil rights movement. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal program would be the by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change. Ending the "Letter" with his celebration of the black man's perseverance might have made a more fitting and appropriate ending, but Dr. King continues into this final argument, which he acknowledges almost as a post-script: "one other pointbefore closing" (184). But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. man since the beginning of time and it is still here today. Dr. King makes sure to mention the withholding of food from destroying the moral code of children by their lack of involvement and overall apathy toward the Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. Yes, I love the church. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. I know its hard to understand from our modern perspective, but thats just the way it was. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. He also asserts that he believes the greatest stumbling-block to progress is not the far-right white supremacist but the white moderate who are wedded to the idea of order in the belief that order is inherently right. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me. In invoking the "true ekklesia", King was calling on all people of faith, regardless of their religion or racial background, in order to work towards establishing equal rights for all people regardless of their race. 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