Tinoco

Arturo Tinoco

English 1T

Sussie Huerta

January 30, 2017

Illegal Dreams

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader of

the Civil Rights Movement. Between 1958 and 1967, Dr. King was arrested 29 times for

cooperating in nonviolent protests against segregation. During his 13th imprisonment, he wrote

"Letter from Birmingham Jail," which was his response to a public statement of concern and

caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South that initially criticized Dr. Kings

actions. The purpose of his letter was to take a stand against the southern society, by evaluating

their values and providing clear solutions for changing the inequality the black community was

facing. However, Dr.King uses various rhetorical moves that contained ideas and feelings such as

imagery, definition of terms, repetitions and word choices to capture and bridge the readers

attention and ideas in order to convince them that his point of view is accurate and relevant.

For many years, the eight clergymen refused to give freedom to the African-American

community; they just told them to wait. Dr. King uses Imagery in his argument because he

wants the reader to imagine and feel a particular experience about what the black community

was suffering. Dr. King illustrates, when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son

asking in agonizing pathos, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?" (2). By

mention a child in his argument, Dr. King makes the audience imagine the painful life that not

just African-American adults were living but children too. It makes the audience to feel guilty

and ashamed because they dont have any mercy, not even for children. For instance, when
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African-American middle school students go to school, they get bullied all the time just because

of their skin color. However, white society can put themselves in the African-American

communities shoes and feel the imation through out the child.

The White community doesn't know the difference between just and unjust laws because

they are blindly following laws that seem just in their eyes. Dr. King describes and gives

examples between each of them, trying to make them realize the difference. By applying

definition of terms as a strategy, Dr. King wants the reader to understand that any law that

damage basic rights is unjust. Dr. King argues, A just law is a man-made code that squares with

the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral

law (3). He explains that white society needs to follow God or moral laws; being morally

correct is not segregating African-Americans from Whites because segregation doesnt allow

Black society to live a normal live full of harmony. On the other hand, when the white society

follows unjust laws, they are disobeying God because according to God, we need to respect each

other. However, it was a smart way to start making the white society question the laws and open

their eyes.

In the public statement the eight clergymen made, they categorized the nonviolent protest

as extreme. its ironically wrong because his direct action didnt hurt anybody or any emotions;

nevertheless, the white community is damaging feelings and sins by segregating other humans.

By using repetition in his argument, Dr. King wants the reader to question what type of extreme

person they want to be, bad or good. Dr. King Mentions,

But as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from

being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist in love? -- "Love your

enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." So the
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question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will

we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the

preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? (4).

Dr. King is accepting the word that the eight clergymen told him but hes changing the meaning

of it to his own point of view and using it against them. However, by mention Gods words, Dr.

King is demonstrating his love and kindness for everybody. At the end of his paragraph, Dr. King

is letting the 8 clergyman know the two types of extreme people in the world, and slyly tells

them that they are the ones that cause segregation. Nevertheless, Dr. King tell them what type of

extremist they really want to be; if they want to continue being the bad ones, or change and start

being extremist for love.

Not all the White society was racist, there were some white moderate people that were in

favor of changing the laws without caring about what the rest of the White society will think. Dr.

King mentions that this few had an impact and made a difference in society because they have

understood the meaning of social revolution and endured being called dirty nigger lovers,

nickname given to those who help African-American people. Dr. King uses connotation to

defend his claim by saying, They, unlike many of their moderate brothers, have recognized the

urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease

of segregation (4). To emphasize his job he uses such words as diseases and antidotes. A disease

is something that started in one person and infect the rest. Relating it to this letter, that ones who

started infecting others people were the 8 clergymen with their segregationist laws. A disease,

can be curable with antidotes, in this case nonviolent protests. However, by adding the word

antidotes, it gives more power to his argument because Dr. King is showing that the antidotes are

the Whites moderate that are unfavor of the laws.

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In conclusion, the civil rights movement was a time in which the legal laws were

illegal. It was a horrible time for the African-American community. It was a time in which

society was broken in half, in which there was no hope for change. It was a time in which if the

oppressed expressed their feelings against the oppressor, the oppressed had no voice, no vote, no

value. It was a time full of frozen hearts and broken sins. It was a time in which people were

afraid of fighting for their own moral rights. Dr. King had the the courage of raising his voice

against the most important White people at that moment, not caring what will happen to him

because all he wanted was freedom for his brothers and sisters. Throughout his letter, the

audience can find different types of rhetorical methods that he used to express his feelings and

ideas in order to educate the eight clergymen on the issues that the black community was facing

and why a big change needed to be made. We can use this letter as encouragement to continue

fighting for our rights and never give up until we receive them. We need to raise our voices and

have our heads held high until the end as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did.
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Works Cited

King, Martin Luther, Jr. ""Letter From a Birmingham Jail"." "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" |

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. N.p., Aug. 1963. Web. 28 Jan.

2017.