An Analysis of Martin Luther King's Persuasive Counter Argument

When convicted and sent to jail, usually the convict has committed a grave crime that would enumerate his or her sentence. However, seldom does a person go to jail for rationally doing the right thing. Nonetheless, Martin Luther King Jr. a paradigm of hope not only went to jail for his actions but was also criticized for his actions. In a response to eight white clergymen who wrote a letter to King "A Call for Unity" addressing his "unwise and untimely" actions, King responded in return by using his letter as a counterargument to their statements. In his letter King uses three paramount instances in order to persuade the clergymen in favor of his exposition. King justifies why he is not considered an outsider in Birmingham through logos and ethos; effectively repudiates the untimely issue using pathos; and rationally asserts the reason of breaking laws by employing logos.

In responding to the eight clergymen's accusations of why is he an "outsider" in Birmingham, King asserts the importance of his presence not only as a leader but also as an activist. Being the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which has many ties with other organizations, King serves to respond in a nonviolent campaign to combat injustice. King informs his opponents of his credentials as leader of the Southern Christian Conference whose efforts are engaged in Human Rights. Essentially a man of good will and intent, King draws a similarity with his audience since he as well as they have the same religious beliefs and values. In addition, in order to persuade his audience through the ethical appeal, King refers to such men as the Apostle Paul and prophets of the eighth century B.C. in order to stress that he follows in similar foot steps of men who intended to foster the cultivation of love and good actions towards society. Through reasoning from comparison likewise, King compares his intentions of spreading the "gospel of freedom" similar to those of Apostle Paul who was compelled to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hence, in order to affirm his reasons for his visit, King through using syllogism effectively conveys the purpose for his actions. He resides on the major premise that he has organizational ties in Alabama who strive for Human Rights. Consequently his minor premise, that injustice is present in Alabama, emphasizes the purpose for his major premise. As a result, King concludes he can't be considered a foreigner who is the leader of an organization which has ties with other organizations in Alabama whose goals are to stop injustice. Accordingly, through the emotional appeal he expresses the cause and effect of hate and how one can't allow it to germinate. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny, whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Thus King states that such an act influences the whole nation indirectly and in order to combat such problems everyone in the boundary of America is included to rid the country of injustice. So, essentially King's emotional appeal bolsters the syllogistic reasoning and subsequently persuades his audience why he can't be considered an outsider.

In response to the eight clergy men's statement that the events carried out by African Americans for Civil Rights are "untimely", King goes on to address his audience by conveying when it is not untimely. Through depicting vivid personal narratives of events that are carried by the way of torture or hardships towards blacks, King states how waiting is no longer a solution to the issue. Generally, King uses strong eloquent language in order to supplant the emotional burden of waiting. By referring to lynching of family members or killings at the hands of policemen, King sends a clear message of inhumane treatment which disturbs the reader's conscience. King separates the oppressors from the oppressed to distinguish the evil from the good. Diction is crucial in King's emotional argument since he uses words that can vividly express actions such as "kick", 'drown" and "smothering" to add a more dramatic affect. As a result the reader himself begins to feel the pain and suffering of victims. Moreover, King brings his own children into his rebuttal by exposing their innocence and pity- "explain to her why she can't go to the amusement park... and see tears welling up in her eyes and see her beginning to distort her personality." He uses his children as a channel between the innocent and guilt, only to express that his children remain helpless the longer they have to wait for justice. In addition King extols the emotions of loneliness through conveying how he has to spend his nights incommodiously in his car, since no motel will accept him. Again King is forced to experience solitude from society since he can't even enjoy the accommodation of a pedestrian. Finally King concludes with the fact that he has no respect amongst society, since he is referred to with such insulting names as "nigger" and "boy" that are totally immoral and impolite to call such a man like Dr. King. He further points out that life is a constant worry and fear seeing as he has no control over what to expect next. By using semi-colons instead of beginning a new sentence each time in the long paragraph, King does not want to break up the long painful vivid illustrations of the treatment the Civil Rights movement has gained. Through arousing the readers emotions King conveys why the situation of Civil Rights can't wait anymore and why the necessary time to act is now.

In order to refute his opponent's claim of breaking laws, King rationally discusses the circumstances when it deems necessary to break such laws. King probes into the disobeying of these laws in order to distinguish when they can and cannot be broken, while supporting his claim with examples or historical events in order to emphasize his point. He comes to the logical assertion that there are two types of laws, just or moral laws and unjust or immoral laws. Likewise, King's reasoning from consequence states that just and unjust laws "uplift" and "degrade" human personality respectively. As a result, segregation would be classified as unjust since it does the latter of the two to the personality. Moreover, he also asserts that laws are unjust if the "power majority" who are enforcing the laws neither act upon it themselves nor allow the "minority group" to influence the outcome of devising such laws. Hence, King through reasoning from consequence makes a rift between two worlds "power majority group" and "minority group" living together verses all people equally abiding by the same law in order to define unjust and just laws respectively. Therefore, King factually argues that such an unjust society can only cause chaos since the right to power will always be challenged. On the contrary if Americans were to follow a true democratic society everyone would share the same rights to enforce and make laws. To help elucidate his logical assertions, King uses historical events where such problems existed. "We should never forget that everything Adolph Hitler did in Germany as "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." "It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany." With this point King affirms through his reasoning that a legal action does not implore a just action. Furthermore, by comparing his own actions to that of the Hungarian freedom fighters which theoretically were also unjust, King argues that his actions are logically appropriate and credible. Throughout his argument King rationally analyzes why he is breaking the law.

In his letter to the clergymen, King through the use of effectual persuasion convinces his opponents why he does not consider his own actions "unwise and untimely". King explains that he is in Birmingham because he has organizational ties that are fighting for Human Rights and injustice through logos, pathos and ethos. Moreover, King argues that after all the suffering the black have endured; his events can't be considered untimely using the emotional appeal. Finally, he logically justifies the reason for breaking certain laws on the basis of them being just or unjust through logos. Through his elegant and captivating writing style, references to historical figures and events, as well as a strong thought out analysis of his arguments, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. presents himself as an ethical and practical writer.

Works Cited
Ali-Dinar, Ali B., ed. "Letter From a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]." African Studies Center. University of Pennsylvania. 8 Sept. 2007 .