Letter from a Birmingham City Jail is an important piece of American literature written by Martin Luther King during a crucial time of the American Civil Right Movement. The essay highlights the racial tension in the American deep-south, so-called the Bible belt. King exemplified the mistreatment of African-Americans brought on by policemen and the biased political structure that geared toward white American rather than equality. King cleverly employed several strategies such as showing the cause and effect, compare and contrast, and exemplifying to justify his actions. The letter was one of the catalysts in aiding black Americans to regain their civil rights as American citizens. King, known as a peaceful activist, defined the concept of law …show more content…
He compares his seemingly unlawful actions to the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954, which outlawed segregation in public schools. Although the decision was handed down by the highest court of the country, there were still many states, whose leaders disapproved and refused to comply with such order such as the case of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. Kings uses these examples to strongly point out that there are two types of law, just and unjust. He advises that it is just as noble for a person to obey impartial laws as much as disobey biased …show more content…
The segregation between the two races spawned many extremist groups that often encourage violent acts such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panthers. Not only these aforementioned groups encourage violence, they also prefer to live in isolation away from other races. In contrast, King’s ideology focused mainly in integration and unity of races, yet he was still labeled as an extremist – the label that he found to be offensive and disappointing. King labeled himself as somebody who was in between the extremist and moderate black Americans. He exemplifies how both ends of the spectrum can be as equally damaging to the American society. He cites the black extremist as an example of a group whose emergence based purely on the frustration, anger, and hatred resulted from racial discrimination. He expresses that his nonviolent demonstration is a way to express the feeling on inequality as well as a form of outlet to let others aware of the