A Response to Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream” speech. In Martin Luther King Jr’s speech “I have a dream,” King issues a statement that changes the stake for the civil rights movement into the favor of equal rights for all. According to King, many nationalities, specifically, the African American people are subjected to the injustices and shortcomings of the American system. King identifies some of the sources of the discrimination such as close mindedness, racism, hate, and prejudice. King also, brings up several solutions for these problems. To support his argument, King cites the constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Declaration of Independence (600). Before reading this speech in its entirety, I wasn’t even aware …show more content…
King describes a path for the African American people to follow “... to make real the promises of Democracy.” (600), “...to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path racial justice.” (600), and “...to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children.” (600). King uses this to provide a plausible, rational path for the equal rights movement to work towards. King also states “[t]here will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.”, in this King informs everyone that the equal rights movement will not give up and will persevere until they are granted their rights that they were promised. King also explains that it would be detrimental for America to ignore the importance and determination of the movement. King uses these phrases to empower the movement and forewarn the opposers of the coming “... whirlwind revolt ...” to “... shake the foundation of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” (600), this message being central to his point of equal justice and equal rights, for everyone, which I believe gave the movement a boost in strength and endurance to power through adversity and gain the suffrage and rights they …show more content…
Although King set an empowering and righteous example, I say with a heavy heart that I, personally, believe today’s movement is nothing but spitting in the face of a great man and all of his efforts, along with the efforts of the movement as a whole. I do feel for those who are genuinely prejudiced, and discriminated against, as well as those who are victims of police brutality, but scapegoating the other 99% of men and women who put their lives on the line in a sense of righteous duty, is unacceptable. As King states “[i]n the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.” (602), “[w]e must not allow our creative protest degenerate to physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” (602), and “[we] must not lead us to a distrust of all white people” (602). These are several of my favorite quotes, from the text, and some I see as the most relevant to the situation today. As I said previously, the behavior of today’s movement is unacceptable, every headline like “rioting ensues,”, “looting has begun to take place,” and a particularly horrible example “Dallas PD ambushed by sniper fire, several dead, and many more injured”, and “several white males doused in gasoline and set on fire by BLM protestors”, are all disrespectful, useless, efforts by a group desperate
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreWe live in a world with currently many conflicts from the racial disparity in high incarceration rates to gun violence and the war over gun rights. In his letter, King describes that Black Americans have no identity and that the oppressed cannot remain oppressed forever. King implies that they cannot be told to “wait for justice” because if they simply
In this letter King is defending his born right to use strategies of nonviolent resistance against racism. If every African American
King’s letter is full of powerful and motivating quotes. King explained the topic of freedom and how it was difficult for the African Americans to achieve, he stated: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (68). The African Americans, specifically the leaders, went through extremely tough and painful experiences. According to King, for the African Americans to achieve freedom they had to fight for it, because the oppressors refused to give freedom to their victims. King knew this because of the many different painful experiences him and the other leaders experienced to receive their
In a similar light, King addressed the speech ‘I have a dream’ to a peaceful mass gathering in Washington asking for change. The speech deemed racial segregation to be an inhumane practice that subdivides society into groups that essentially alienate them from the true sense of humanity; which is brotherhood. King argues that all people are created equal and directly challenged the outdated and abhorrent views that upheld the false flag of racial superiority among White Americans. Luther’s speech was a passionate rhetoric that preached his views about the future. Furthermore his speech did not
There is a disagreement in society. It is a disagreement and an argument that has been continuing for many generations, and will continue for many generations after this one. It is a disagreement of oppression, a disagreement of injustice, a disagreement of racial discrimination. This disagreement had been discussed, and argued as well as against it has even been written about. In Martin Luther King Junior’s ‘I have a dream speech’ this racial disagreement is discussed and spoken about in front of thousands of people and became one of the most referenced and influential speeches in history.
King was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was located and enforced in every state in the South. This was an organization for African American civil rights. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Page 204) King establishes that when the world opens their eyes into reality and realizes the inequality, there will be a greater problem than before. An increase in protestors, means the greater retaliation will be against the law and when there’s retaliation against the law, then people with justice are afraid.
In his words he suggests,“This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (King) . Dr. King is insisting that there should be equality between one another. Dr.
Deluged with remarkable linguistics, King’s rhetoric wholly epiphanized and unified a country that had been stricken with unrest by war and hate and thus became the epitome of the March on Washington and the summation of the Civil Rights Movement Summarized Speech The speech encapsulates the desire to remain equal among the exalted American people, those of White color. At the outset King utilizes a policy signed 100 years ago as reference to a declaration of freedom that has only been contorted to produce new boundaries on freedom;
“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” (King). King calms the African Americans who are being oppressed by using the words, “this situation can and will be changed.” and “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” which gives them hope that there will be a new day when a change will take place.
Martin Luther King Jr. uses both logical and emotional appeals in order for all his listeners’ to be able to relate and contemplate his speeches. He does an exceptional job using both these appeals throughout his speeches by backing up his emotional appeals with logical ones. Using emotional appeals captures an audience's attention and makes them think about what the narrator is saying. Emotional appeal uses intense words and charged language to grab listeners to get them to keep listening. On the other hand, logical appeals helps to grasp the concept better and provides facts that prove it to be true.
Marisol Jaslyn Pena Professor Caleb Camacho English 1302 February 15, 2017 Annotated bibliography Argument: The next future generation must be persuaded to stand up for what they believe in and not be too scared to make a change in the world. They need to leave their mark in the world.
The main idea of his speech is that all people were created equal and, although this is no longer the case nowadays, King felt it must be the case for the future. He argued peacefully, yet passionately and powerfully. In preparation for the speech, he studied the Bible, The Gettysburg Address and the US Declaration of Independence and he alludes to all three in his address. The intensity of King’s speech is built through parallelism, metaphors, bold statements and rhythmic repetitions:
In 1963, Martin Luther King delivered one of the most influential and impactful speeches in history. King's I Have a Dream speech was consistently powerful assertions of emotional appeals, repetition and paradox. In King’s speech, he utilizes pathos to build a relationship between his black and white audience. This is evident through his references to both black and white children and the history of slavery which appealed to the audience members of the older generation.
He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of
He wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and wrote his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In both of these, he used pathos and logos to appeal to the audience and fit the occasion, so that he can make the people do something about segregation and defend his ideas in an effective way. If he would not have spoken up and had influenced people to follow him, the world could have ended up still having segregation today. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the biggest visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used pathos and logos in his speech to draw in people so he can make them act and he used pathos and ethos in his letter to defend his ideas using his knowledge of the audience and the occasion.