Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King

Malcolm X 's approach towards racial equality was always "by any means necessary", meaning he promoted followers of the Islam religion to defend themselves and do what they had to do. Malcolm X believed African-Americans didn 't need to fight for civil rights in a country where they were only brought to as slaves. He wanted them to embrace their roots and isolate themselves. The main conflict between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X was violence or nonviolence. Malcolm X 's violent approach towards equality came from his childhood and Islamic religion.

An ally smuggled in a newspaper from April 12, which contained “A call for Unity” a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen against King and his methods. The letter provoked the King, and he began to write s response on the newspaper itself. King writes in Why We Can’t Wait: “Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly black trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave

In his letter, Dr. King informed his readers about the protests in Birmingham. He explained why the protesters were civilly infringing racist laws and city ordinances; why the protesters had truth and justice; and how he was thwarted with the clergyman and white moderates in the South who said they supported his cause. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King incorporates biblical and historical allusions to give him credibility with his target audience, the clergymen. Additionally, Dr. King subtly asks rhetorical questions and makes logical conclusions to force his audience to consider his strategy of nonviolent resistance to cease racism and oppression. Throughout his piece, Dr. King uses many strong connections to biblical theologians and philosophers that strengthen his appeal and credibility.

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was written 1963. It is in the form of an open letter, which means that its purpose was to be seen by the public and its readers were able to make their own judgments on the issues at hand. It was written as a response to the letter of eight clergymen who expressed their dissatisfaction of King’s protests in Birmingham. The main thesis of the Birmingham letter is that black people would no longer stand idly and watch as the white community denies them their rights given by God.

Civil Disobedience Compare and Contrast Henry Thoreau and Martin Luther King both wrote persuasive discussions that oppose many ideals and make a justification of their cause, being both central to their argument. While the similarity is obvious, the two essays, Civil Disobedience by Thoreau and Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. do have some similarities. King tries persuading white, southern clergymen that segregation is an evil, unfair law that ought to defeat by use of agitation of direct protesting. Thoreau, on the other hand, writes to a broader, non-addressed audience, and focuses more on the state itself. He further accepts it at its current state, in regard to the battle with Mexico and the institution of slavery.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter from jail, after he got arrested during a peaceful protest. At the time segregation was still a part of the culture in the United States and Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers were working diligently and peacefully to try and make a change in people’s hearts about segregation. In this letter MLK Jr. is writing to defend his strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, which he does effectively by using rhetoric. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference focused on Birmingham, Alabama to start a nonviolent direct action campaign with the goal to get the city to get rid of segregation laws. When a federal injunction was put into place to prevent the protest without permission of the city, Martin Luther King Jr. persevered and decided to go on with the campaign.

Martin Luther King Jr had the best approach on Civil Rights for the African Americans “ Non Violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community has constantly refused to negotiate…” Martin Luther King Jr wanted to establish peace between the whites and the African Americans, but some people disagreed and wanted to take a different approach thinking that it would work better than non-violence.. In the NAACP document it states “ … If the methods have any single common denominator, it is that the have always been non-violent. Today non-violence is stridently challenged on the premise that Negroes must defend themselves when attacked. “ If the approach of non-violence has worked for six decades

Martin Luther King Jr. realized this, and preached a change that the African Americans have would force only through nonviolence. Martin Luther King’s philosophy made more sense for America in the 1960s because it pushed America forward, it stopped bloodshed through nonviolence, and it helped make everyone more equal and together by showing them the errors of their ways. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X seemed to have a respect among one another, though their philosophies were quite different from each other. Malcolm X made it clear that he believed that the African Americans and the White people should remain separate but should be considered equal to each other. He told white people “work in conjunction with us-each of us working among our own kind.” Martin Luther King Jr., on the other hand, preached equality and desegregation.

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King was an interesting piece of writing. It was developed in response to a statement “A Call for Unity.” Within this statement, these eight Clergymen talked about the racial segregation that was going on, and how it should be handled by higher authorities than left into the hands of the people. However, Martin Luther King on the other hand expressed how inequality were shown everywhere. Therefore, he uses three rhetorical elements logos, pathos, and ethos within his letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as a guide to get his message through to the people. Moreover, King uses these three rhetorical elements to express the treatment African Americans faced, the unjust laws by using examples back in history to show that these laws were not right at all, and his reason as to why he is in Birmingham due to the racial inequality whites have shown towards negroes.

The message he is trying to convey, using diction, is “we” the population are not united and “when” will we become equals. Through his speech, King, is not only trying to establish black men’s rights but he’s trying to emphasize how all Americans, all the population, is involved in this injustice, regardless of skin color, religions or even homosexuality. Throughout King’s speech he never refers to himself as "I" instead he consistently uses the word "we", therefore, further establishing his notion of equality. Unity is only accomplished by communities accepting each

Martin Luther King Martin Luther King harped on civil disobedience for any moral arguments. Treating citizens differently based on skin color was nefarious, King wished to speak out to change but insisted on non-violent acts to do so. He expressed his thoughts in the “I Have a Dream” speech publically in a passive fashion. This passionate, positive and encouraging speech flourished King’s views and changed the American government’s unjust laws. Although, King did not use destructive force to get his point across, he did break some laws.

In The Universal Declaration of Human Rights it states in article two that regardless of the government, everyone is entitled to the same law and shouldn’t be discriminated by gender or race. The Letter from a Birmingham Jail written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. King expresses his feelings about racism using pathos and how everyone is suffering from this issue in society. On the other hand, Malala also uses pathos in her speech to the United Nation about women’s rights towards education and how their rights are taken away because of their gender. Though these two extremists are fighting for different reasons, they connect to each other because they both believe in equality and have a desire to make a difference in many parts of the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that despite the government, everyone is entitled to the same law and shouldn’t be discriminated based on race.

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

Letter from Birmingham Jail The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr was a letter that he wrote to answer the statement to fellow clergymen for calling his activities “Unwise and untimely. First, he explained the reason why he was in the Birmingham; it was because he could not ignore the injustice problem there. The injustice anywhere was the reason for him become active in working for civil rights in Birmingham even though he did not claim permanent residence there. The letter mentioned about the strategy of nonviolence resistance to racism. Martin Luther King described the racism problem in his letter, and also explained the reasons why they could not wait for help anymore.

He describes some of the unjust laws that African Americans had faced and goes on to tell about why these unjust laws on minorities should be broken and challenged. For example, he tells about the unjust law of being put be hide bars for parading and being denied the right to vote. He tells how unjust laws can be degrading to human personality and that all segregation acts are unjust laws. King states that it is his moral responsibility to stand up against the unjust laws that rule African American’s lives. He agreed with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."