Martin Luther King essay

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Michael Rossi
October 12, 2009
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition

History In The Making

How is it that a black man in the sixties, who was writing from prison nonetheless, was able to change the hearts and minds of a nation who was comfortable with black repression and unprepared for change? It is so simple and practical to dismiss annoyances that one does not wish to hear. It was not King’s pre-established character that had earned him the ears of his audience, nor his emotional pleas, but the unison of these two things working in harmony to support King’s irrefutable logic. This combination pummeled his points through society’s understanding of black repression. It was not logic understood by only blacks, uneducated logic, or circular logic that aroused America from its complacent slumber. It was universal logic that Christian social teaching and the American Constitution preached. King reminded America that such bold preaching should be boldly enforced. Logic is the crutch that emotion and character support throughout King’s speech.
King initiates his speech by firmly establishing his character: “My dear Fellow Clergymen, while confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities ‘unwise and untimely’ […] I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms” (King). Due to King’s status as an inmate it is imperative that he establish his character as a clergyman and an individual of intellect. After doing so, King draws parallels between Jesus Christ and himself as they both needed to preach their earth shaking messages to humanity: “You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express
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a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being” (King). Kings persuasion lies in the tone in which his argument is being presented. The phrase, I am sorry, has a certain aspect of condescension about it that seems to say; I do not see what is preventing you from seeing the fundamental problem as I do.
After making such a bold critique of the clergymen, King uses further logic to justify his assertions: “There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any city in this nation. These are the hard, brutal, and unbelievable facts” (King). King’s aggressive word choice paints a vivid picture in one’s mind as they hear the atrocities that King is bringing to the surface. King uses extreme examples of African American mistreatment to fully articulate his point. The white moderate is forced to feel a sense of remorse as the undisguised logic is thrust in front of their face. They feel the sharp pangs of the mistreatment they have caused by inaction.
King’s razor sharp logic cleaves through the paper-thin resistance presented by the white moderate. King uses inversion to supplement his cold hard facts: “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter” (King). United States is considered superior to Asia and Africa in a vast majority of ways. The fact that the United States was behind Asia and Africa in racial justice is a startling embarrassment. How is it that a nation whose diversity was the building block to its existence, is not on par with sections of the world that deal with problems of poverty and starvation?
Through his logic King was able to dramatize extremism and its role within his message. King said, “Jesus Christ. Was an extremist for love, truth, and goodness and thereby rose above
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His environment. So, after all, maybe the South, the nation, and the world are in dire need of creative extremists” (King). This quote is remarkably significant because the comparison to Jesus Christ is a warning. Jesus, who was hated by men during his time, preached a message that begun the entire religion of Christianity. If the men who had tormented Jesus were alive they would be fully aware and fully sorry for the sins they had committed. In the same light, King warns his listeners not to make the same mistake as the Romans made. King is calling them to rise above societies teachings and listen to what is right in their hearts.
King turns his attentions to the church whom had acted as an outright opponent, just as many of the Jews who persecuted Jesus and his followers. King voices his disappointment in the same manner in which he had addressed the clergy earlier: “I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. […] I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between body and soul, the sacred and the secular” (King). Calling the church out for their pious irrelevancies is no small matter. King is rallying the church to action. Too often in history the church had remained silent and distanced itself from world issues it could have changed. The church remained quiet against Nazi tyranny, American racial injustice as not just a small matter, but an immensely, influential matter that is on the same level as Jesus being ignored and the church ignoring the Nazi movement.
Logic is the crutch that emotion and character support throughout King’s speech. All forms of appeal are derived from logic and cannot stand alone. Crutches by themselves are simple tools that are created to support humans, and are meaningless on their own. In the end it is

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logic that kicks away the crutches of emotion and character and stands on its own as the most persuasive of appeal throughout King’s speech.