Martin Luther King’s letter to the clergyman provides his reasoning of why he is in Birmingham, Alabama. King’s main argument to supporting his reasoning, of being in Birmingham, is the existence of injustice within the city. King puts the white moderate along with the white church and its leadership at fault for the injustices that the African-Americans have had to deal with in the past.
Throughout his letter, King references and connects with Socrates through the use of civil disobedience to end injustice. Both Socrates and King were imprisoned for questioning the law. They both accepted the penalty even though both felt there was an unjust act being committed. Their reason for accepting the unjust penalty was that it was right of them …show more content…
Socrates and King connect on another way with how both of them created tension among the people to receive answers in return. Socrates questioned the way individuals thought so that individuals could escape the lies they were believing. King questioned the need for segregation within cities when, in fact, there was a law that stated that segregation was deemed illegal. Despite the connections to Socrates, King clarifies a significant point in the beginning of his letter when he states, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King 87). I connected this belief with a common belief during the Cold War era. At that time, Americans were afraid that any small glimpse of communism would spread and start to control the majority of the world. The fact that injustice, at this time, is still causing an impact on certain people’s lives means that injustice can still continue to affect the justice laws in society. One section of King’s letter I found to be somewhat puzzling was the fact that King is stuck in between two different opinions from his own race’s community. I would think that most, if not all,
Throughout his letter, King references and connects with Socrates through the use of civil disobedience to end injustice. Both Socrates and King were imprisoned for questioning the law. They both accepted the penalty even though both felt there was an unjust act being committed. Their reason for accepting the unjust penalty was that it was right of them …show more content…
Socrates and King connect on another way with how both of them created tension among the people to receive answers in return. Socrates questioned the way individuals thought so that individuals could escape the lies they were believing. King questioned the need for segregation within cities when, in fact, there was a law that stated that segregation was deemed illegal. Despite the connections to Socrates, King clarifies a significant point in the beginning of his letter when he states, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King 87). I connected this belief with a common belief during the Cold War era. At that time, Americans were afraid that any small glimpse of communism would spread and start to control the majority of the world. The fact that injustice, at this time, is still causing an impact on certain people’s lives means that injustice can still continue to affect the justice laws in society. One section of King’s letter I found to be somewhat puzzling was the fact that King is stuck in between two different opinions from his own race’s community. I would think that most, if not all,