Why We Can T Wait Speech

There were four basic steps about nonviolent campaign: collection of the facts to determine, injustices exist, negotiation, and self-purification. They have gone through all these steps and they can be no opposing that fact of racial injustice overwhelms this community. Birmingham is most segregated city in the United States. There have experienced ugly record of black people and a lot of unsolved problem were still there. Negro leaders were trying to negotiated with the city commander to solve these but they refused to opened their mouth. So many people were in

Through the use of many rhetorical devices, Martin Luther King expertly writes this piece using those devices to improve and influence the response of his audience. This introduction to his book, Why We Can’t Wait, is used to bring injustice to light and as a call to action piece. His goal is to inform the whites of America about racial inequality and to rally the African Americans to continue working towards a desegregated world.

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.

Dr. King explains to readers that from how much the Black community had heard the word wait over and over again, even though they had waited and waited, there wasn’t any result.

In Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham jail”, King talks about his imprisonment for his involvement in a nonviolent protest and defends his rights and moral grounds for organizing nonviolent protest activities. In this essay, I will look at his views on nonviolent protest and how they differ from todays violent protests.

As demonstrated in “The Student Voice,” civil rights organizations of the 1950s opted for passive resistance and catered specifically to black Christians. In “The Social Organization of Non-Violence”, King advocates for conviction but also pacifism when faced with oppression, famously stating “there is more power in socially organized masses on the march than there is in guns in the hands of a few desperate men.” Antithetically, Robert Williams, whom King is writing in response to, encourages the black community to take up arms and contends that nonviolent protest, however admirable, is not always an effective form of direct action. Williams essentially argues that the struggle for equality and against oppression inescapably necessitates violent resistance. A philosophy of violent activism, espoused in Williams’ writing, gained prominence in the early 1960s and indicated the progression of a militant black movement alternative to the Civil Rights Movement.

Why We Can’t Wait written by Martin Luther King is a book that conveys the actual mind-set of many black Americans toward their freedom and emancipation. The social conditions for Blacks during the 1960’s were not that of freedom and liberty, but that of oppression and segregation. Martin Luther King makes use of a variety of stylistic, narrative, and persuasive devices to display his image of the harsh reality of the supposed “freedom” for blacks during the slowly progressing civil rights movement of the 60’s.

One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation was written, African Americans were still fighting for equal rights in every day life. The first real success of this movement did not come until the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954 which was followed by many boycotts and protests. The largest of these protests, the March on Washington, was held on August 28, 1963 “for jobs and freedom” (March on Washington 11). An incredible amount of preparation went into the event to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people attending from around the nation and to deal with any potential incidents.

During the 1960's, Black African Americans had to face multiple social conditions and attitudes. Many were living in poverty or low-income communities, with either no education or very limited education. This certain community during this time period was neglected, rejected, and disrespected by the American society. In Martin Luther King's book "Why We Can't Wait", he uses rhetorical strategies and devices like parallelism, repetition, imagery, and rhetorical questions in order to seek social change in the United States.

African Americans have undergone unimaginable hardships in this land and were powerless to effect change in the system with their vote. I find this to be great injustice. Another example of injustice in this reading is King’s arrest. He writes, “I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance, which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and deny citizens their First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.” As King explains how a just law can become unjust through capricious or malicious application, I find myself confused by the situation. African American citizens are struggling for the equality America was founded on, and these people are being arrested for improper parading. After exhausting many other approaches, African Americans moved to peaceful protest and even that was stifled. I find myself asking where else were they to turn, how else could they effect change, and where is their justice? Would anyone have blamed Dr. King for being angry with his situation? I doubt it. King made a wise choice to remain optimistic, to address those who questioned his motives with reverence. In fact, he defines how he will respond to his critics in the opening paragraph of his letter: “I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” This statement demonstrates King’s commitment to

Dr. King believes and advocates non-violent protest as the best way to get the message across to the authorities on the issues of segregation, unequal treatment of African-American people, from the white people in the country. His argument states the reason very clearly in his statement that "Non-violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue." King placates fellow civil rights leaders by explaining his actions, and why they were necessary for the overall good of the cause. King emphasizes the stubbornness of the local government, and their unwillingness to grant rights and liberties to African Americans despite the fact they are specifically enumerated in the Constitution. King writes, "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights." He reasons that the non-violent way of protest was

King uses logos to counter argument the clergymen’s claim that the actions at Birmingham were untimely. For example, “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry (pg. 941).” King counters that claim with the logic that time itself is neutral and can be used either destructively or constructively. It’s what we do in the time were given that is important. Martin Luther declares that the white power structure left the Black community with no alternative and logically describes the actions the Negro community took and the four basic steps of a nonviolent campaign: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. He supports his claim saying that Negro leaders sought to negotiate with city fathers but they refused to engage in good-faith negotiation. Some merchants agreed to move their stores’ humiliating racial signs but they briefly remained unseen. As weeks

If we look back to when Martin Luther King Jr. was alive, he is a prime example of peaceful resistance positively impacting a free society. In 1963, the Supreme Court convicted Martin Luther King Jr. for protesting without a permit. King broke the law, but in a peaceful way. He submitted to arrest, and was held at a Birmingham jail, along with other members of the protest.

King had identified a way to campaign nonviolently with four basic steps “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action” (MLK). King had called Birmingham the most segregated city in the country. The black community have been treated poorly, had been faced with legal and economic disparities. Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, by injustices, King Jr.

There are multiple examples throughout the writing of Why We Can’t Wait stating King’s beliefs of black lives and equality of humanity. From the cover of his book, there is a quote from King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail that states the importance of standing against. He writes, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” In respect to the present era, when officials of the state are abusing their power against innocent minorities, it is accurate to state that King would see this as an