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, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest. They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience sake. Once he establishes the definitions of justice and morality, Dr. King argues that the black man will succeed with or without the help of white moderates because they operate with the just ideals of both secular America and divine guidance. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. Throughout his career, many critics of Dr. King argued that he was too deferential to the white authorities that facilitated segregation and other racist policies, but the tone here seems to serve several purposes. A response directed toward 8 Alabama clergymen who released a statement toward King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had begun to flood into Birmingham to protest the awful civil rights violations being inflicted upon Blacks King's response establishes what? Who is their God? I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Letter From Birmingham Jail essays are academic essays for citation. Throughout the Letter, Dr. King is careful to measure his tone, to avoid validating any knee-jerk anxieties that his audience might feel. We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. By suggesting that he would have broken Nazi laws because they were unjust, he challenges his audience to do the same with segregation laws. When he explains the many distinctions that support his cause such as the differences between just and unjust laws, violence and nonviolence, or just means and unjust ends he is implicitly suggesting that the clergymen are too dense to realize the nuances of the situation they have so openly criticized. Secondly, Dr. Kings use of multiple traditions for his allusions reinforces the unimpeachability of his argument. He stipulates through pathos that good men want a solid rock of human dignity, and then argues that direct action like that of the SCLC is the only way to reach such a transcendent state. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. Overall, the discussion of group immorality supports his purpose of encouraging individual action in the face of injustice, and criticizing those who do not support such individual action for fear of upsetting the status quo. Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. But is this a logical assertion? These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. Therefore, by utilizing restraint, he earns a sympathetic ear to which he then declares his proud embrace of extremism and tension. Some have asked: Why didnt you give the new city administration time to act? The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. He does not wish to validate his audiences deep-seeded fears - that the black movement is an extremist set that will engender violence. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. Smothering in an airtight cage of poverty. Though the allusion serves several particular purposes as a symbol of wisdom or of civil disobedience it often speaks to Dr. Kings overall approach in the Letter. The Socratic dialogues are masterpieces of misdirection, as Socrates does not offer answers but rather questions assertions made by other people. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation. Never before have I written so long a letter. Of course, this is overstating it somewhat, since he does define and contextualize the concept of extremism immediately before this passage, but there is nevertheless a self-satisfaction with his position here. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. It covers the rhetorical devices used by Martin Luther King, Jr. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. 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. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. 1. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. More specifically, he assumes they accept the validity of Christian morality. What does this mean, and how do these sections differ? I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. Through a variety of legally-structured arguments, Dr. King illustrates the fallacy of both these assumptions. The Eight White Clergymen who wrote "A Call for Unity," an open letter that criticized the Birmingham protests, are the implied readers of King 's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." King refers to them as "My Dear Fellow Clergymen," and later on as "my Christian and Jewish brothers." How does the discussion of group immorality relate to the letters overall purpose? They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of somebodiness that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. The larger implication of this assertion is that moderation and patience must be replaced with action and impatience. This passage is a rather concise description of the call to arms that lies within the Letter from Birmingham Jail. Arguing that time is neutral, Dr. King illustrates the importance of individual action. The extension is that if their most-hated concept extremism is not necessarily bad, then they ought to reexamine their various attitudes and perceptions. Birmingham was one of the most racially segregated and oppressive, to blacks, city in America. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. You may well ask: Why direct action? King wrote his response in the margins of the paper, in pieces, and they were smuggled back out to a fellow pastor . He is careful to stress that the tension he supports is nonviolent, but he does not make his intentions unclear. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Individuals must actively seek to create the world they want, since there is no inevitable sense of fate that will deliver it. Furthermore, you'll understand how he used ethos, logos, and pathos to pass his message to the people. SOAPSTone "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" - YouTube 0:00 / 6:59 Introduction SOAPSTone "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" Melanie Wilson 1 subscriber Subscribe Share 487 views 2. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. Cedars, S.R.. McKeever, Christine ed. I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? ", I must make two honest confessions. through now this approach is being termed extremist., But though I was initially disappointed through embodied in our echoing demands., Read the Study Guide for Letter From Birmingham Jail, Rhetorical Analysis of Letter From a Birmingham Jail, We Are in This Together: Comparing "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and "Sonny's Blues", Fighting Inequality with the Past: A Look into "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and Related Historical Documents, A Question of Appeal: Rhetorical Analysis of Malcolm X and MLK, View our essays for Letter From Birmingham Jail, Introduction to Letter From Birmingham Jail, View the lesson plan for Letter From Birmingham Jail, View Wikipedia Entries for Letter From Birmingham Jail. How do they strengthen his argument and underscore his overall message? Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.". Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.". If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. In terms of the former, the white moderate operates under an illusion that patience will be more effective towards ending segregation than tension will be. One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. There are times when he distinguishes himself and his cause from that of his opponents, particularly in terms of race. Cedars, S.R.. McKeever, Christine ed. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self purification. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. 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