Martin Luther King, Jr. had extremely powerful words and views in his book Why We Can’t Wait. I was able to learn a lot about the many different nonviolent events that lead to the Civil Rights movement and what occurred after it. Reading King’s book helps readers understand the different struggles African Americans went through. Why We Can’t Wait effectively reflects the struggle of the African Americans from slavery to segregated civility and how they performed their revolution nonviolently. King wrote about the nonviolent movement against racial segregation in the United States, he specifically focused on the 1963 Birmingham campaign. King’s main focus in Why We Can’t Wait is the breakthrough year, 1963, as the beginning of the Negro Revolution, …show more content…
It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Both a practical and a moral answer to the Negro’s cry for justice, nonviolent direct action proved that it could win victories without losing wars, and so became the triumphant tactic of the Negro Revolution of 1963” (12). I believe that this paragraph is a perfect way to summarize what King discusses in his book. He emphasized the importance of nonviolence and his belief on it. Nonviolence was a successful method of the Negro Revolution that occurred in 1963. King stressed the importance of peacefulness and performing all planned protests in a nonviolent …show more content…
King’s letter is full of powerful and motivating quotes. King explained the topic of freedom and how it was difficult for the African Americans to achieve, he stated: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (68). The African Americans, specifically the leaders, went through extremely tough and painful experiences. According to King, for the African Americans to achieve freedom they had to fight for it, because the oppressors refused to give freedom to their victims. King knew this because of the many different painful experiences him and the other leaders experienced to receive their
Martin Luther Kings introduction in "We Cant Wait" shows the reality of social life for blacks, revealing the hash truth, and then pushing the black community to rise up in nonviolent oppression. King uses to anecdote, didactic, and emotional appeal to strengthen the influence of his cause and combat the injustice this world has come to know. Martin Luther king uses anecdote in his writing to show how a brief story can be used to represent a greater meaning. By giving the short story of a small boy from Harlem and a girl from Birmingham, it reveals how although they might be thousands of miles apart, they are experiencing the same persecution and degradation because of their skin color. They both question "Why does misery constantly haunt the negro?"
King Jr. uses character and ethical appeals to make the clergymen of Birmingham feel at least a little amount of sympathy. He uses words like painful, never, and demanded to explain the devastating times that he as an African American faced. In response to the segregation and injustice African Americans faced, King Jr. led the Birmingham Campaign. This campaign was the start of equal justice across the whole United States. I believe that King’s philosophy of nonviolence was the reason hundreds of people volunteered to be a part of this protest.
Throughout reading King’s letter “From Birmingham City Jail” there are many strong points made that could easily compel the reader to understand his point of view. Each paragraph was intricately written to have a deeper meaning. One paragraph that stood out to be the strongest was paragraph twelve. This paragraph had strong points that put the reader in a poignant standing with in the situations that were brought upon, one could easily feel the inequality expressed. If we look at the previous paragraph building up to this one, King starts off by saying “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 5).
MLK knew that violence would get blacks nowhere in the success of freedom. “Thus, in purely practical as well as moral terms, the American Negro has no alternative to nonviolence” (Doc L). Nonviolence civil disobedience was the only possible way to influence legislation or government policy. During the Civil Rights Movement, nonviolence would be the right thing to
King’s first step of initiating a nonviolent movement is the “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist.” In Selma in the 1960’s, people didn’t need statistics or facts to know that injustice was everywhere, and it was stripping black people of their rights and freedoms. In 1965, during a peaceful voting rights protest in Selma, 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot and killed by police. This was the event said to have sparked the idea for a voting rights movement in Selma. Identifying the issues that would be the movement’s focus was key to motivating people and gaining support for the cause.
Letter from Birmingham City Jail Confronting your enemies is never an easy task. Confronting them in a humble way is way harder. Dr.King was put in jail in the year 1963 in the city of Birmingham, which at the time was a hard city for African Americans to live in. When he was in jail he wrote a letter to a hostile audience. In his letter he explained his believes and delivered a direct message to them.
Martin Luther King’s message “A Letter From A Birmingham Jail,” it rebuttals the empty statements made by the eight Alabama clergymen. In the clergymen’s letter, they try to show their support by mentioning how they know what is best for the citizens, and they are trying their hardest to resolve these problems. However, they fail to give evidence in saying that King’s methods were “untimely and unwise”, and they failed to prove their support against segregation. King wrote this letter during his serving time in jail, in response to the clergymen that said that his action were “unwise and untimely.” This letter raised national awareness to the Civil Rights Movements, it motioned the will power to gain proper rights after three hundred and forty
We live in a world with currently many conflicts from the racial disparity in high incarceration rates to gun violence and the war over gun rights. In his letter, King describes that Black Americans have no identity and that the oppressed cannot remain oppressed forever. King implies that they cannot be told to “wait for justice” because if they simply
In addition to those thoughts, the letter tried to let the blacks know that they will only get satisfied when they will get their freedom and so it helped in spreading their spirits to their struggle and through the faith of the King. It came to pass as the blacks attained their freedom and this has helped the American society and the blacks at large as people can visit any place of their choice without any restrictions (Regan, 237-238).While in jail, King coordinated his nonviolent and freedom faith and his thoughts and came up with strategies on how to push for the freedom of the blacks, which made him to come up with ideas, freedom songs as well as acts so as to push for the liberation struggle. After that, he came out of the jail and he planned for the peaceful demonstration that helped in airing the grievances of the blacks. Moreover, across the world, there is a lot of freedom as a result of King 's faith of the free society.
Racism in America has been around for centuries however it was in the 1960's that the attitudes of many Black Americans started to quickly change and they realized they wanted equality. Out of this, The Civil Rights Movement emerged which was a peaceful social movement that strove for equal human rights for black Americans. The leader of the Civil Rights Movement is no one other than Martin Luther King Jr. In his book, Why We Can't Wait, King tries to convince Black Americans to realize their reality, remember their roots and important and mainly, to seek changes to social conditions and attitudes.
Dr. King sets up his assertion of the necessary components for a successful nonviolent campaign when he states that “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action” (King 1). When Dr. King says “in any nonviolent campaign,” he is preparing his explanation of the steps that must be present when taking nonviolent steps toward a change in society. He is very aware of segregation and its side effects, and aspires to eliminate it all by following a specific system. In order to complete a “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive,” one must go out and observe the interactions between people of different races. In the
“Letter from Jail” On April 16, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter to the eight clergymen while he was incarcerated. Dr. King wrote this letter to address one of the biggest issues in Birmingham, Alabama and other areas within the United States. The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” discussed the great injustices that were happening during that time towards the black community. Dr. King wanted everyone to have the same equal rights as the white community, he also went into further details about the struggles that African Americans were going through for so many years, which he felt like it could change. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, expressed his beliefs and his actions about the Human Rights Movement.
In order to further prove that nonviolence is the way to stop racism and gain equality, Dr. King writes: “I'm grateful to God that, through the Negro church, the dimension of nonviolence entered our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, I am convinced that by now many streets of the South would be flowing with floods of blood” (). In this quote, Dr. King once again argues that non violence and peace are the best ways to stop the cycle of violence. The phrase “the dimension of nonviolence entered our struggle” shows that even though they are struggling, nonviolence can help them.
This article talks about why Martin Luther King Jr. was an important person and why we should follow his actions. King is not only known for his famous “I Have A Dream” speech but is known for his devotion "to bring about equality and civil rights for African Americans" and to "used nonviolence as the most effective form of protest" (Reign). King wanted explicit action not to wait and see what happens. For example, a few weeks before King was killed, he was outside a high school gym near Detroit when a crowd of people started "picketing his appearance" (Reign). He then had some word to say to the crowd, mentioning, "A riot is the language of the unheard" which is still as compatible today as it was 50 years ago when King uttered it (Reign).
Martin Luther King Jr has stated, “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” This means that people can make a difference without harming anyone and can make a difference without being hurt. Also that nonviolence is more powerful than just brute force, people can stop or “cut” injustice easier. Martin Luther King Jr’s words inspired a generation and allowed these groups and people to use this metaphor as their own strategy of change.