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Annotated Bibliography On Martin Luther King Jr

544 Words3 Pages

Thesis

Martin Luther King, Jr., through the use of eloquent writing and appeals to emotion, refutes several local religious leaders' criticisms of the his and the SCLC's outside involvement and nonviolent direct action taken to draw attention to and build support for the end of segregation, not only in Birmingham, but all of the United States.

Main Points

First King refutes idea that he is an outside agitator that doesn’t belong in Birmingham, as he and several members of his staff were invited to the city by a local affiliate organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He also asserts that his involvement there is valid, as “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” as communities are connected and affect each other indirectly. …show more content…

In the past the city had made many false promises and devastated countless aspirations. The direct action campaign is the only alternative when negotiations fail due to white leaders refusing them. Moreover, direct action creates chaos that forces them to negotiate. King next addresses the reason why he did not wait to see if the new administration within the city a chance to remedy the injustice was that Boutwell is still a segregationist, and “the ‘wait’ has almost always meant ‘never’”, so the black Americans cannot wait any longer.

Then King refutes idea that he is supporting some laws but breaking other, he mentioned that there are two type of law: just law and unjust law. Just laws apply to everyone, but unjust laws do not apply to everyone. So segregation laws are unjust. He also use example to show that some law can be just on paper, but applied unjustly. Therefore, we must break unjust laws because that shows the highest respect for

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