After establishing creditability, King shifts to explaining the grievances of African American through pathos. He gives examples of personal experience to bring forth the real truth of racism in Birmingham. He pushes for acceptance, oppression, and change for African Americans. If he did not push for those things, racism will still be an unsolved problem today. King stated, “Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts”.(IN TEXT CITATION) He included that part to show how his people are being treated by unjust circumstances even involving the justice system. This part was included to infuriate his audiences felling’s toward the justice system. When reading King’s letter, there have been more unsolved bombing of negro’s homes and churches in Birmingham …show more content…
He adds personal experiences of seeing vicious mob lynches of family members, and policemen with dogs are willing to join in on the killings his sisters and brothers. The inhumane treatment of the colored in Birmingham shows they are being dehumanized and are below police dogs. King makes this point let his reader know of the inhumane treatment again effecting his reader’s emotions. This leaves his audience having a guilty conscience in a way manipulating his reader to feel like it is their fault that these events happened because they have not taken action to prevent racism. He used this tactic of manipulation years later in another of his speeches at Santa Rita. King describes he is disappointed in the church. “All Christianity know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry” (King 26) This appeal of pathos proves that white preachers were racist even though they are men of God. King let his readers know that even though he does not have the churches approval he will succeed without their
King’s letter was structured in such a way, to address all the concerns of the clergymen. Since it was such a long letter, King wanted the clergymen’s major points to be refuted towards the end, effectively showing his audience the racial injustice that occurs with the Birmingham police. In the public statement addressed to King, the Birmingham police were mentioned towards the end. With the way the letter was structured, there is a possibility that King addressed their arguments in a chronological order. King easily refuted this point with an appeal to emotion, showing the appaling image of the Birmingham police force.
In King’s letter from Birmingham jail, he structures his piece by providing what the white majority has to say, and then afterwards he explains what he has to say. Throughout his piece King summarizes what the white majority has to say, and then he counters it. One example where he uses summary is when he summarizes the white majority’s idea that the non-violent demonstration King took part in was untimely. He starts off his summary with, “One of the basic point in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have been taken in Birmingham is untimely…” He then goes more specific and explains that the white majority is asking why they did not give the city administration more time to act, and continues to summarize the white
King uses many forms of rhetorical devices in his letter in order to effectively make impacts on his audience. In his counterargument against the praises towards the Birmingham police force, King brings new lights of the police force to the public eye. He uses parallelism to target his audience and change the public opinion on the police force “I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes ... if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together”(King 561-570). King counter the praises that states the police kept “order” for the public and prevented any violence to take place,
In the King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he places an emphasis on how the clergy men and him hold similar values. Throughout the letter we see the King use language to show how they both share concern for their families. (maybe add another idea) One way that we see the King do this is by addressing the men as “Fellow clergymen”, the intention behind this is for the clergymen to trust him more. By studying the language of the letter we can learn a lot about the true motive of the letter.
In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. makes a sound and effective argument against Southern clergymen that the actions performed by him leading to his imprisonment were justified. His argument is effective because he used references from the Bible that the clergymen are familiar with to argue to them that breaking a law is just if the law is unjust. For example, King argued the idea that disobeying unjust laws can be justified by referencing three biblical figures that disobeyed an unjust law and survived their punishment through divine intervention (21). King also strengthened his argument by refuting the clergymen’s opinions that his actions were too extreme.
Letter from Birmingham City Jail, by Martin Luther King (MLK). MLK wanted to end segregation, but had to try and do it from jail (which was hard enough). He decided to write a letter to the clergymen, telling that all about his experience, views, and what was happening, so they could hopefully help him get equal rights for the blacks. MLK made a claim saying that the whites treated the blacks like they didn’t even matter and even treated them like property. So he decided to take matters into his own hands and get the rights that the blacks deserved, which was to end all of the segregation as peaceful as he could, without anyone getting hurt.
Now, King talks about how they have been promised things, and promised new changes in laws but it just turns into another lie and let down of the African American community. “As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us.” (273 King). King uses this pathos in his letter to shown the men that the broken promise of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights promised another ‘broken promise’. He uses this to appeal to their emotions so they understand why he was upset and
The letter from Birmingham jail is a strong persuasive letter, especially for its audience, clergymen. King used all kinds of methods, logos, ethos, pathos. He is very insightful about his audience. King, as a clergyman himself, understand what other clergymen’s perspective and what they believe in. To start this letter, King addresses the recipient as “dear fellow clergymen”.
This will help set the tone for the rest of the paper. King additionally displays his credibility by mentioning that “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” (King 1). This signals to the clergymen that King’s profession is similar to theirs and they logically should have similar ethical standards. King further drives this idea home at the end of the letter by voicing that he hopes to meet each of the eight clergymen, “not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother” (King
King’s argument begins with him writing back to the clergymen who sent him “The Public Statement” who have criticized the demonstrations King was leading in Birmingham. They told King that he should wait until racial injustice was taken care of, that he was an outsider who had no right to be there, and his actions were causing violence. King had a right to argue for black rights but this was overlooked by the white clergymen. King’s arguments were more valid than anything the clergymen could possibly think of.
This was a build up to the Civil Rights Act being passed. In Dr. King's letter from the Birmingham Jail, where he was arrested for protesting the treatment that blacks were getting. He discusses segregation and how it should end, but talks about it with little to no emotion giving it a more justified feel. People should read this letter
Letter from Birmingham City Jail Confronting your enemies is never an easy task. Confronting them in a humble way is way harder. Dr.King was put in jail in the year 1963 in the city of Birmingham, which at the time was a hard city for African Americans to live in. When he was in jail he wrote a letter to a hostile audience. In his letter he explained his believes and delivered a direct message to them.
Dr. King's, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is poignant in many ways in regard to a "big picture" viewpoint of our society. Overall, it speaks to the viewpoint that we all have a social responsibility to each other to work against injustice irrespective of where that injustice takes place. "Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro- black American organization about his and his organization's non- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham. Dr. King told the local clergy in Birmingham that he understood he was an outsider and he realized that his presence in Birmingham would cause trouble. However, he also felt that he had a moral
An article appeared in the the Birmingham news on April 13, 1963, under the title of White Clergymen Urge Negros to Withdraw from Demonstrations.”. The article summoned the Negro community of Birmingham, Alabama and was signed by many white Alabama clergymen. It was intended for the Negro community to extract there support from the efforts of Martin Luther King and the others connected to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. During this time MLK was locked way in the Birmingham Jail for not having a permit to hold a parade, then again he wasn 't there to hold a parade. His intentions in Birmingham were to lead a non-violent civil rights demonstration against the Jim Crow Laws
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