Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the inspirational freedom leaders, started a series of meetings and peaceful protests against ethnic unfairness in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 3, 1963. He was arrested violently on April 12 on the accusation of promenading without authorization, per a command against procession, establishing, segregating, and invading that a local itinerary judge had passed two days before.
The Letter’s Fourfold Purpose
King’s letter “Letter from Birmingham” served a fourfold aim: to establish himself as a genuine expert in front of his spectators, to claim the requirement of instant accomplishment, to display the hardships of the black community in the USA, and to defend his foundation.
Establishing Common Ground With the Clergymen
Martin wrote a message from Birmingham Prison to the clergymen. A rhetorical petition of philosophy is made to establish his reliability on the topic of ethnic discernment and unfairness. The letter begins with “My Dear Fellow Clergymen.” By saying this, he is placing himself on similar ground with the clergymen. He is conveying the meaning that he is no less or more superior to them. Then, he says that he is present due to political connections. Fundamentally, he is in Birmingham because of the prevalence of injustice. He convinces them that he has integrity on the problem of unfairness as he is well-studied on the topic, and not because he is the receiver of white honor.
Ethos, Pathos, and the Reality of Racial Violence
The letter says that King has the integrity to serve as leader of the Christian Leadership Conference in the South, a group functioning in all municipalities there, with the control center in Atlanta, Georgia. They have around 85 allied administrations. Often, they share workforce, scholastic, and monetary funds with their associates. The purpose of the outline is to establish his sincerity as an associate of the USA. He shows them that he possesses just as much, if not more, understanding of the theme of inequality and ethnic judgment. He makes requests for pathos by presenting the difficulties his fellow men have undergone. These statements use provocative wording like “vicious mobs” and correspondence such as “kill your fathers and mothers on purpose and drown out your brothers and sisters impulsively.” Using such language and sentences, King creates an image and impression of what he experienced in those problematic times. Throughout the entire section, using such sentence organization and many descriptions, the spectators begin to sense what would happen if they had been in King’s place and felt the agony and distress he had to undergo. It is certainly a sensitive passage, and using this sentiment at the commencement of his letter catches the attention of his addressees. This is precisely what King desired so that he could make the listeners feel the resilient sensation and hurt he felt, and encourage them to keep analyzing the letter to perceive what message he had to convey regarding these violent acts, demonstrate optimistic means to alter them, and validate his purpose of inscribing this document in reply to the ministers (“Lyrics,” n.d.).
Just Law, Unjust Law, and Historical Comparison
King continues to rationalize his reason for complaint and provides details for the progression of public privileges. Explicitly, he ensures this by nurturing uncertainties regarding the implication of a “just law” and indicating definite cases in which rules were biased and unfair. There’s a saying in the letter that they should never overlook that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was lawful and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was unlawful. It was unlawful to help and assist a Jew during Hitler’s reign in Germany. Even so, King is unequivocal that if he had lived in Germany during the period, he would have assisted and consoled his Jewish brothers. In the stated lines, he forms an influential instance of an unfair commandment (how it was unlawful to help a German Jew throughout the reign of Hitler) and what would have been the response to it. It is presumed that as decent Christians, they would have assisted any person in need. He draws a connection between the massacres committed against the Jews and the killings committed against African Americans in America. Although this was on a much smaller scale, the circumstances can be reflected as parallel, with unfair rules bringing about ferocity and deaths.
Religious Precedent and the Logic of Radical Justice
King urges the ministers to ponder the ethically true path of action. King also substantiates his combat for an intemperate root by giving particular instances of other historical radical grounds that essentially brought about changes for the better. It is stated that if Jesus was a revolutionary of love, if Amos was a radical for fairness and equality, and if Paul was fanatical about the Christian gospel, then Martin is also an extremist for justice. Martin’s plea to logos in this quotation is very effective as it has an impression on his objective addressees, the white missionaries, through stating significant past and spiritual people like Jesus Christ and Thomas Jefferson. King’s distinctive opinion is that he is also doing the right thing if those individuals are doing the right thing. This petition to logos verifies historically that revolutionary grounds are not always mistaken and can bring about an optimistic, greatly wanted revolution.
Works Cited
“Lyrics.” Lyrics RSS.
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