letter from birmingham jail by martin luther king jr

These themes of injustice were the push for his plan of direct action as he states and supports each theme with clear and factual evidence. Lastly, he argues that it doesn’t matter how admirable the police are when they are maintaining the immoral end of racial injustice. MLK wonders about the churches and why they’re not trying to help the black community in their struggle and support their movement, as Christians use to have moral and ethical power. The unfairness as they are seen as “extremists”, the activism of taking extreme measures, for their nonviolent direct-action protest just because they want the same freedom as whites. The prejudices of the white moderate who say they agree with the goal they seek of freedom but cannot agree with their methods of direct actions. unjust laws used by the segregator and pushed upon the segregated. Throughout his letter he brings forward the injustices of just vs. The time was now, they were done waiting for change instead they were going to make it happen on their own terms by creating tension that would force them to confront the issue. That direct action was the only choice for negation as they were victims of broken promises by the courts and given no alternative choice.

Martin Luther King’s major claims in this letter are to bring forward the injustices that went on in Birmingham. His letter gives the philosophical foundations of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and does a good job by giving specific examples that appeal to logos, pathos, and ethos.

After Martin Luther King looked over the clergymen’s unjust propositions he efficiently constructed his counter argument as he directly started his letter “my dear fellow clergymen”. The eight clergy men called his present activity “unwise and untimely” and stated that racial matters should be properly pursued in the courts and not the streets. He wrote this letter from his jail cell after him and several of his associates were arrested as they nonviolently protested segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The “letter of Birmingham Jail” was written by Martin Luther King on April 16, 1963.

Letter from birmingham jail by martin luther king jr