Examples Of Injustice In Letter From Birmingham Jail

Dr. King wrote the letter as a response to the criticism of his church peers. The letter was his way of addressing the injustices happening around him. More than anything else, he wanted equality. Not for himself but for his children and all the other children growing up in this dark era. It is one of the greatest pieces of writing I have ever read that uses emotion, ethical appeal and logical appeal in the perfect combination. The essay has a way of capturing the readers’ attention, and wanting them to fight alongside him for his cause.

We are all fighters we all have something we are fighting for. We fight for our life, for our health, our family and friends, to eat a good meal, have a home, transportation, clothes and a good job. There are those that do not understand what is fighting, working hard, sacrificing, dedicated to providing and implementing time to accomplish what is necessary to survive. For some they do not have to fight, everything is provided to them and is a privilege to gain everything through others. Unfortunately, it is sad to say that is not the case for some people. Some people are fighting for their last breath, some people do not know where their next meal is coming from, do not have any love ones nor friends, live in the streets, do not have any means for transportation, do not have a job or are making less than the minimum wage, and are unable to provide for themselves and/or their families. The reason for this at times is because of inequality, lack of opportunity and/or support in the community. Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream which he fought until the end. We as minorities all have a job and a place in this society because Dr. King made a difference which impacted every single one of us all these years later.

Martin Luther King used his time in the Birmingham jail to write about something that he seemed confused about. He believed that people who should've been his main support system were going against him and what he was fighting for. King not only wrote to them but about what he was trying to do to show them what he was doing was something great. King went in depth as to what him and his followers should do, what they believe in, how injustice should be dealt with, and his demands.

As a well respected preacher and advocate for nonviolence, Dr. King focused on freedom signifying being seen as an equal, but he was patient and forgiving in achieving this, which ultimately hurt his cause as he continually faced the same challenges after seeing no results followed by no change in his course of action. The overall tone of his letter from the Birmingham Jail is apologetic as if he needs to explain his actions because their purpose is unclear and he is at fault. He relates and reasons with the clergymen whom he addressed his letter to, “I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms”(p. 24). Within the first paragraph he has submitted to their

In the letter Dr. King wrote from the Birmingham Jail, he states, “for years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. For King and the black community at the time, the word “wait” symbolized the unwillingness of the government to rectify the inequality and unjust treatment they suffered. King goes on to illustrate the litany of abuses blacks have been subjected to over time and were continuing to suffer from. One example of inequality King uses to support his claim is, when he must explain to his young daughter she that is unable to go to the public amusement park because of the color of her skin. For King, “Wait”, has also produced a desperate sense of urgency for him to right those wrongs.

“A Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. was written in the margins of a letter posted by the clergymen of Alabama at this time that sparked his interest and while he inhabited the jail cell for parading around without a permit. This time allowed him the ability to respond wholeheartedly to this cynical oppressing. King’s letter addresses specific points presented in the Clergymen’s and this direct response distinguishes King’s strong points through his powerful writing.  Unethical and immoral mentions came to the attention of the Minister through the letter, and he expressed his differing views and defended his ideals and actions through Aristotle’s three rhetorical devices, ethos, logos, and pathos.

King continues to say that some of the preachers of God have understood the need for justice, but some have suppressed the blacks themselves. He believes that the preachers have to break the traditional, unjustified rules of the society to allow for the freedom of the children of God. The true meaning of the Bible lies in justice and co-existence. He wants moral justice to overcome the traditional norms which were unjust in nature. He conveys this message well in his letter. He further writes: “One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage” (King 6).

When injustice is in place we as citizens must react, and this is exactly what Martin Luther King Jr. did. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. while he was in jail. King was in jail for partaking in protests against segregation. King’s clergymen have recently called him out for his actions, stating that they are unwise and untimely. King then goes on to state why he thinks his actions are wise and timely. He then goes on talking about the unjustness in Birmingham at the time. King at the beginning tried to negotiate with the Birmingham community to stop segregation, but it ended up going nowhere. He ended up using nonviolent direct action which this started to make a difference. Martin Luther King Jr.’s reasoning and evidence of his actions are very persuasive.

Imagine yourself as an African-American is the 1960’s. You were not allowed in restaurants, movie theatres, schools, and even bathrooms. Police beat you and you were seen as less than human by a large percentage of white people. The only people who would stand up for you are the other African-Americans and a few white’s. Then Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders tried to find nonviolent ways to end the injustice that is your life. Even if you do decide to take the nonviolent path there is no guarantee that you won’t end up in jail or severely beaten. Dr. King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”paints a vivid picture of the injustice of the 1960’s in the United States and how he planned to fight back peacefully.

In his letter, King is in a Birmingham jail, arrested for protesting segregation. He wasn't willing to sit on the sidelines of the fight for equality while his brothers and sisters fought and died for their cause. He was willing to sacrifice everything for this cause. He responds to his fellow clergymen that called his actions “unwise and untimely”, usually not responding to such inquiries, except this specific case, he realized that they had pure intentions and he felt it his duty to try to help them understand his cause. He has so much passion for justice; it was his only concern. King

King combines the use of ethos and pathos as he compares himself and the rights of men to religious backgrounds. His first comparison is with the Apostle Paul, where Paul had “carried the gospel of Jesus Christ,” as to Kings carrying of “the gospel of freedom.” King addresses this similarity to show why he felt committed to go to Birmingham, because like Paul, he needed to respond as an aid to his people. Towards the end of Kings letter; he exemplifies courageousness in the Negro demonstrations by relating them to the actions of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they refused to follow what they believed to be unjust laws. Saying that if they are supposed heroes by going against unjust laws, why shouldn't the people see Negro demonstrators the same way? They are also God's children and by those disobedience’s, they were really showing the grace of God. These connections to religion supports their fighting against unjust laws as a divine cause.

Martin Luther King Jr., the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, was arrested and placed in Birmingham jail after leading a non-violent march to protest racism in the streets of Alabama- a highly segregated state at the time. There he received a newspaper containing “A Call for Unity,” which was written by eight white Alabama clergymen criticizing King and his movement’s methods; this prompted King to write a letter in response to the critics. Martin Luther King Jr. employs ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade and demonstrate to the critics and other readers the many injustices of segregation.

In the Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin talks about he wants to be treated as an equal and that everyone has rights. Martin talks directly talks about Socrates and about how he wanted everyone to see the truth. “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 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”(King).

During the Civil Rights Movement, King made many arguments surrounding the laws of our country. While he chose to break some of those laws in the protests and marches that he led, he displayed and argued for the truth of the laws in a majority of his campaigns. Many times, King referred to the natural law and how humans living together in America need to abide by it in any situation. According to the legal dictionary, natural law can be defined as an “unwritten body of universal moral principles that underlie the ethical and legal norms by which human conduct is sometimes evaluated and governed.” King uses this concept many times as he fights for not only his freedom, but also the freedom of black people in the communities around him. In King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail he states, “[o]ne has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws, but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” (summit.org). King used the laws as a foundation for his fight, and whenever he was accused of being unjust, he fought back with the truth of the legal system that backs up his argument. This strategy contrasts the Socratic method because King does not question the truth behind the laws, but rather, he uses them to his advantage. If he were to approach

In King’s letter, he makes evident the differences between moral and unjust laws. He explains his logic for breaking the law as he felt he had no choice in the creation of the laws which targeted African Americans and kept them inferior. Specifically, King explains how the segregation laws were “inflicted upon a minority” even though the minority “had no part in enacting and devising the law” which aligns with how the legislature who created the laws were not “democratically elected” since blacks were