The letter Martin Luther King wrote from the jail in Birmingham is such a moving and powerful piece. It seems at first that King simply poured out his heart and wrote what he was feeling in response to the letter from the clergymen. After reading it more deeply it becomes obvious that King has written one of the best persuasive responses ever.
I think the best parts of the letter are where he agrees with what the other clergymen were saying that was supposed to be against him, and turns it around to say exactly what he wanted it to. He agrees with them and tells them that they are right to ask why they need to demonstrate, and then explains exactly why they need to, noting of course, that they should not have to demonstrate in the first place. King repeats this again when he talks about breaking unjust laws. “You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern,” he says. He then skillfully explains that the anti-segregationists will obey just laws. He is effective when because he uses examples that the clergymen could identify with to show them than an unjust law is no law at all.
My favorite part of the letter is the long list of reasons that we must not “wait” to act against segregation anymore. (“Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darkness of segregation to say, ‘Wait’…”) This is the most emotional part of the letter. It is so powerful because each of the things that he lists are poignant, and are real life experiences that it seems like King himself went through. Although he uses all kinds of modes of persuasion I think his emotional appeals are the most effective.
I did a little more research on the letter and found this website that I thought was kind of cool:
http://www.millikin.edu/wcenter/king1a.html
they broke down the entire letter by form of argument used and color coded it.
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That letter is one of the great moments of American political rhetoric. It's message still rings true today, all these years later.
I am most impressed with your appreciation of it, epecially in regards to your youth. It gives me some faith in the future of the world.
Thanks.
I actually remember Martin Luther King ( yeah, I am that old ) , and can still recall the night of his assassination.
If you are not already aware of it, you may want to check out RFK's speech on the night of King's death.
Compared to anything we hear today, it speaks with a deep and moving honest compassion.
Listen to it here:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/robertkennedyonmartinlutherking.html
Imagine the scene,on a warm summers night, with Kennedy in the middle of a crowd of African-Americans who have no idea what had just occurred.
It still sends a chill down my spine each and every time I hear it.
Another one you might like is Gandhi's speech at his trial in 1922.
http://www.mkgandhi.org/speeches/speechMain.htm
You are doing great work with your blog, keep it up.
- Monty
It looks like the link to RFK's speech was cut off.
Grrr.....
If you go to the main site, you can track it down from there.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches
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