Dr. King

In 1963, after a protest in Birmingham c anying help to the need for equal seriouss for African Americans, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther force Jr. wrote an cave in letter to the coalition of Christian ministers in the American South. Dr. pouf appoint himself the subject of extreme criticism from his fellow clergymen for his protest, specifically the illegality of the protest. In his essay, Dr. world-beater attempts to court to the ethical, emotional and logical sides of coun elbow greasemen to show them that the virtues that he was rift were deductial and un unsloped in and of themselves. This paper will critically examine the appeals that Dr. King make and the stiffness of those appeals.Dr. King begins his statement in favor of his actions with an appeal to the ethical considerations of his audience. Since I feel that you atomic number 18 men of genuine well will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms, (King 1963). He begins by telling his audience that he respects their motives and hopes that they will respect his.This is an important part of the ethical debate in that King wants without delay to establish that this was not a reckless action and that he is not defending himself lightly. Next, he seeks to establish his testify credentials and his right to be in Birmingham. King mentions that peck in Birmingham endure complained of his coming in as an outsider and he immediately wants to clarify that he was invited in.I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some lxxx five classifyd organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian social movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates.Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to operate on in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here beca ingestion I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here (King 1963)By first establishing that his organization has ties in Birmingham and that he was invited, King dismisses the idea that he is just an outside rebel rouser. After establishing his right to be there, king establishes the authority under which his ethical decisions will be made. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left wing their villages and carried their thus saith the noble far beyond the boundaries of their home t causes, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compel conduct to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town, (King 1963). King calls to mind the ethical standard by which he wants to be judged the Bible and his faith. Finally, King argues why his action is ethically justified.Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned rough what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, (King 1963). With this argument he points out the ethical concern that most directly led to the Birmingham protest, injustice.King besides appeals to the emotions of his audience. Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birminghams economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchantsfor example, to remove the stores humiliating racial signs. (King 1963). He begins by gently reminding them of the racial humiliation that was an integral part of the South at the time. Next, he moves onto the violence that the average African American in the South had witness or heard. And finally, he moves on to the emotional appeal of children, before turning the emotionally-charged words modify with hatred and known to all Southern Negroes.But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your get downs and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your pitch blackness brothers and sisterswhen you suddenly find your idiom twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six socio-economic class sexagenarian daughter why she cant go to the public amusement cat valium that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority root system to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to interlace her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white peop le when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking Daddy, why do white people overlay colored people so mean? when your first name becomes nigger, your center name becomes boy (however old you are) and your last name becomes John, and your wife and mother are never given the respected title Mrs. (King 1963)Throughout the essay, king also appeals to the logic of his audience. First, he points out that Southern blacks had attempted to sue the system, plainly that the system excluded them from it and therefore they could not change the system from within. Then, King begins to use statistics to back up his arguments, beginning first with the turn lack of black voters in the South. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority pigeonholing compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is volun tary to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation.A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a dissolving agent of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or fashioning the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that states separationism laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. (King 1963). King also argues that unjust laws or just laws which are unjustly enforced must be changed and that people should hire whatever action is reasonable to change them. By providing specific examples, he makes it hard for any logical person to disagree.Though Kings I have a dream speech is more famous than his earn From a Birmingham Jail, it is in this essay that he sets the tone for the stallion civil rights movement. In his use of emotional appeal, he moves beyond sheer anger to the disappointment and pain caused by segregation. His logical arguments are made soundly so that opponents cannot argue that he is simply hot-headed or breaking the law for the sake of personal gain. However, perhaps the most important and effective of his arguments come in his ethical arguments. When King illustrates gently, but with great strength, the unethical behavior that has led to the crisis in the South, he is non-accusatory and simply states how things ought to be. This above all else is what marks the greatness of this essay.