An Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. claims that time is a neutral force that can be used as a tool to induce change when and only if righteous men and women take action. King is taking this stance in response to claims by the local clergymen of Birmingham that King’s civil right actions are untimely. King argues that these actions must be taken because other non-active actions have been exhausted. King believes that when proactive action is not taken the oppressor benefits while the oppressed suffer. The evidence that King uses for this claim is that unless the civil rights movement were to not happen then segregation would have continued to be practiced by America. King argues that his brethren have already waited more …show more content…
Take for example the change in the environment caused by the industrialization of the planet’s resources for consumption. The effects of climate change cannot be realistically denied, not when large numbers of experts are backing up research showing the data proving the change happening. An example of some of this research is that over the past 50 years, tree growth decline has prevailed despite increasing atmospheric CO2 (Silva, Lucas C. R., Madhur Anand, and Bill Shipley). This example is important because it shows the change that is happening is not a good change; this backs up the claim that time can be used to show any kind of change. However there are plenty of examples of how good change can be measured using time. Take for example the feelings of grief a person is likely to experience after the loss of a loved one. An exhaustive meta-analysis of 61 grief treatment trials found that active psychotherapies produced small to moderate reductions in grief symptoms (e.g., yearning for the deceased) compared with control conditions; however, at long-term follow-up, there was no difference, on average, between outcomes for the treatment and control conditions, with control participants’ grief improving with time rather than worsening (Currier, Neimeyer, & Berman, 2008). This example shows that in the beginning the treatments were not very affective; but spreading the treatments out and continually measuring the changes in grief levels in comparison to time showed that the treatments were effective. This example is important because it not only showcases the ability of time to provide evidence for good change but it also shows the diversity of what topics time can be used to measure a change