Rhetorical Analysis Of Why We Can 'T Wait'

In order to achieve true freedom one must discover that you can break unjust laws through peaceful protest. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and “The Speech at The March Washington” by Josephine Baker each article passionately argues about the disadvantages of the black community, the equality and power of education. We must learn to act with patients and not guns we must protect are self’s with a pen and paper not violence. Dr. King once4 said “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is unique in history which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals”.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which is an organization operating in every Southern state with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. He came to Birmingham, Alabama because injustice lies there and helped protest about it in a nonviolent demonstration against racial discrimination. The eight clergymen of the South did not approve of these demonstrations happening which caused Dr. King to be confined in Birmingham Jail cell, writing a letter to them men explaining on why he was in Birmingham and what his reasons were for these protests. He begins to talk about and explain the four basic steps that needed to be followed for any nonviolent campaign. He also gives the audience a better understanding by giving a visual glimpse of what the black community had to endure.

Martin Luther King once said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” If it were not for Martin Luther King and his followers, the natural rights for the African American population would not have been secured. It is understood that every human possesses this inherent list of human rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; however, natural rights are never guaranteed. Members of society must be willing to fight, to the death if necessary, to keep their rights intact. Both Marji from Persepolis and Antigone from

As kids people get taught what is wrong and right from a parental figure or experiences of life teach us how to react to different situations. When we finally turn adults no one is there to remind us of what’s good and what's bad so we have to use our past experiences and our knowledge to help guide us. Each adult shapes their societies for their generation and many more generations to come. Mohandas k. Gandhi and Susan B Anthony’s speech along with the article Selma to Montgomery March on history show that civil disobedience is a moral responsibility.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. lived seven hundred years after Thomas Aquinas, King was greatly influenced by the work of Aquinas. In his “The Power of Non-Violence” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. uses many ideas from Thomas Aquinas regarding a ‘higher law’ and its relation to human law. King directly refers to Aquinas when he says, “To put it in terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law” (“Letter”). Martin Luther King Jr. and Thomas Aquinas agree natural and divine law is higher than human law, yet they disagree whether violence should be used to achieve justice. Along with Aquinas, King refers

In his 1963 speech, “I Have A Dream”, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asserts that now is the time to conquer racial inequality and it can be done neither alone nor through hate.

The Civil Rights Movement was a period of awakening, conflict, and influence. The strength and intensity of the movement was due prominently to the poignant and prophetic discourse of its two most prominent leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. These men helped lead to create a sense of distinctiveness by expressing compacted problems to discourse, direct courses of action, and hope for a future of freedom and equality in America. Through Martin Luther King`s Letter for Birmingham Jail and Malcolm X`s The Ballot or the Bullet speech. Their efforts to improve the lives of many African Americans Martin and Malcolm

In the eyes of Martin Luther King Jr., Justice within a society is achieved through the implementation of just laws. Furthermore, “just laws are regulations that have been created by man that follow the laws of God for man” (“Clergymen’s Letter”). Any law that does not correspond with the ideals of God and morality are considered to be unjust or a form of injustice. King identifies that injustice is clearly evident within the justice system. This injustice can truly be seen through the misconduct imposed toward the African American community. Michelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S.

The Civil rights movement was a long and hard fight for freedom in our nation. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the many people who devoted themselves and fought for the movement. He did it in hope to make the world a better place. Outraged and indignant, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham city jail” addresses the events that took place in the name of freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. reflects on the events, through his use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools.

Individuals lay the foundation of America. The Founding Fathers of this unique nation broke their allegiance with Great Britain to create an improved governing body. They desired an individual-centered authority as opposed to Britain’s monarchy, which ruled with tyranny. These Founding Fathers experienced a neglectful democratic monarchy that cared little about the ethical treatment of its people. The domineering actions of Britain challenged these historic individuals to form a new cultural identity. This new American identity opposes injustice. Justice stands as an important moral and political concept. A prominent component of justice is liberty, which frees society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's lifestyle. Another

Discuss Dr. King’s use of restraint in the “Letter”. What does it reveal about his purpose, and what is its effect?

Why We Can't Wait communicates the confidence, poise, and preparedness that Martin Luther King, Jr. felt leading up to his fight against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. By including Letters from Birmingham Jail, one of Dr. King’s most famous declarations about racial inequality, he uses pathos to connect on an emotional level with his readers. Furthermore, Dr. King discusses the importance of involving youth in working for social change. By incorporating the importance of the youth, it helps readers to see the racial and social injustice from 1963, and the injustices today, that they can easily fight for.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful letter includes the wise words based on Saint Augustine’s philosophy that “an unjust law is not law at all,” saying that “one has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. King leaves his audience with these thoughts,

From the era when Christianity was becoming famous, the only way that females would gain visibility was through activism via religion. During the period when the Puritan movement was splintering, women in England had an even broader opportunity and scope to lead and thus gain a better position to voice their opinions. Even though this was a way of preserving female voices in most historical records, women were still oppressed by the society as they were only allowed to undertake some activities and not criticize leaders in the society. As in many societies during that time, Anne Hutchinson was persecuted with a lot of enthusiasm because of the manner in which their actions intimidated the so called harmony and stability in the existing Puritan society that existed in the 17th

Civil disobedience, an act of non-violent protest, involves breaking unjust laws both openly and lovingly (King 90), to bring about positive social change and uphold a higher form of justice. A higher form of justice, a concept explored by both ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, and modern American civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., requires that laws uphold natural and eternal laws – the laws establishing right from wrong in nature and the laws established by God. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Socrates strive to uphold the justice of their respective societies: Socrates protecting the practice of philosophy and questioning authority in ancient Athens, and King seeking to eradicate segregation in 1960’s America. Throughout