Zaida Garcia

Susie Huerta

English 1T

January 29, 2017

The Unveiling of a Clouded Mind

Martin Luther King Jr. is a very well known activist for nonviolent civil

disobedience during the civil rights movement. Dr. King was a Christian minister, and

received his PH.D. in systematic theology; from Boston University. During April 1963,

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led marches and sit-ins against the racial segregation and

awful treatment of colored people in Birmingham, Alabama. As a result of advocating

peacefully for his brothers and sisters Dr. King was jailed. While in jail, Dr. King was

able to see an article written about him concerning his actions. Consequently, Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr.'s, Letter from a Birmingham Jail; is a response to the public statement

that was written by eight white religious leaders who criticized him. More importantly, he

focuses on answering each criticism; along with creating connections with his intended

audience to form a sense of comprehension on his purposes behind nonviolently

protesting. Dr. King asks his audience to open their eyes and look at the injustice and

repulsive treatment towards people of color, both physically and emotionally. Dr. King

concentrates on convincing his audience of the desperate need for the nonviolent

movement, and to instill higher values through his specific choice of words, creating

images, and a brief history lesson.

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 By using diction as a strategy in his argument, Dr. King introduces the reader to

feel ashamed and understand the seriousness of knowing good deeds, but practicing

terrible ones. Not only is Dr. King upset that the white religious leaders arent arguing on

his end, but he is also asking them to repent because of the hateful actions

surrounding them. Dr. King says, We will have to repent in this generation not merely

for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the

good people.(21). Dr. King uses words such as vitriolic to show the negativity that

segregation is causing towards people of color. Also, the word vitriolic sounds similar to

violent; which could easily be supplemented into the sentence, showing the pain, anger,

and how tired Dr. King and his followers are. Similarly, he uses the word appalling to

describe the silence of the people who say they dont like the violence and chaos that

his actions will uncover. Moreover, he mentions that they should repent, which is

commonly used in a biblical setting, and that alone should let the readers know that

their silence is causing just as much harm as the purposeful attackers do onto people of

color. Clearly, Dr. Kings choice of diction fully expresses his discontent about the

audiences actions of silence.

By using imagery as a strategy in his argument, Dr. King projects an image in his

audiences mind to help them understand his stance on waiting for the right time for

segregation; and the bullying for people of color to stop. He feels the need to explain to

those who have not suffered the pain that comes from pigment in the skin, that there is

no perfect time to fight to stop the suffering. Dr. King goes on to argue It has been a

tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth

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to an ill-formed infant of frustration. (11). Here Dr. King depicts how the cycle of waiting

and keeping calm is not because there was never anything wrong with segregation and

the way his people are treated, but because of the lies that were told to keep them calm

for the moment as if it was a source of a drug like substance that kept them waiting

against their will and blind to actions they could take. Dr. King is painting the image of

an ill formed infant to show his audience that while waiting, same as a mother does

while she is pregnant, the infant grew ill formed due to the drugs that kept the mother

sedated. No doubt, Dr. King was speaking about the oppressors keeping the oppressed

brainwashed into believing that they would be doing wrong by standing up for

themselves, but he also said that it resulted in a infant of frustration, symbolizing the

people of color beginning to grow frustrated as time goes by. As a result, through his

own imagery Dr. King is able to project his feelings about people of color having to wait

for respect.

By using a widely known historical allusion Dr. King connects his morals to

explain to his readers what is something legal and illegal in order to help the audience

believe his motives are pure and what was at some point terrible, used to be seen as

okay. Along with the 8 clergymen, some people believed Dr. Kings actions of

nonviolent protesting were disobedient to the laws. To that belief Dr. King answered,

We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal and everything

the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was illegal. (18). In this example, Dr.

King is taking something that happened in history in order to help his audience see the

severity of the issue with segregation and vile treatment. His readers are able to notice

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how Hitlers dictatorship and racist attitude towards the Jewish community led to him

segregating them into camps, mistreating them, and eventually committing genocide

legally. With that in mind, Dr. King creates the connection of the white oppressors and

the oppressed in the US, and makes what sounds like possible foreshadowing sound

more realistic. However, Dr. King also points the light at the thought of something illegal

like helping the Jewish and ties it to values that most people should have, which is

helping your brothers and sisters in need. Through this historical allusion Dr. King is

able to make the audience see both the bad in the example representing the USs

segregation and the good morals that he expects them to follow.

His words are unraveling, and speak nothing but the truth of an ongoing history

of segregation and racial discrimination. Similarly, Dr. King goes on to connect faith with

his non-violent actions and purposes, to remind people that faith was something people

would suffer happily for in our history, and that non-violent protest are in a sense

equivalent because they are going out to the streets in good faith and with good

intentions, with the risk sometimes that may cost them their life.

Still we see of those same sickening racist attitudes of violence towards the

people of color in today's day. Which is why Dr. Kings letter should still feel present in

our minds. Even so, Martin Luther King Jr.s way of using diction, imagery, and historical

allusion makes an impact on the audiences thoughts; therefore, convincing his

audience that sometimes more damage can be done when you dont do anything to

help. People of color are mistreated and are tired of waiting for just treatment, and we

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are all in danger of extreme detachment from one human to the other; ultimately for the

pure reason of the difference in pigment of our skin.

Works Cited

King Jr., Martin Luther. Letter From Birmingham Jail. 16 Apr. 1963.

"Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 1 Feb

2017. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html>