Activist

One of the most skillfully written compositions was done in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was heading a national political movement for the recognizable equal treatment of colored people wrote a letter to his fellow clergy men while being imprisoned. In one article, he was able to address not only the clergy, but a wide, diverse audience, send his message across thoroughly, and affect millions of lives because of his purpose and the different personas he assumed. Dr. King's letter was a success because of his ability to incorporate and involve everyone in his writing.

Dr. King was able to reach out to millions upon millions of people with his letter. Regardless of having addressed it to his "Dear fellow clergymen" (King, 173) King was able to bring his writing to the attention of the general white public, the white supremacist, black nationalist, and many others. Dr. King tried to show how everyone, whether you participated for or against the movement, or if you did not participate at all, affected the situation in Birmingham, Alabama. . He wrote in a heart wrenching manner about having to explain to his children why they were not able to go to a newly opened amusement park and why colored people were treated differently and harshly by white people. He wrote with vivid imagery about the tears that welled up in his children's eyes when they asked these poignant questions and about how he fumbled around for answers that would be appropriate for their young impressionable minds.

Dr. King also caught the attention of white political leaders and critics, but also of other black political activists. His open denunciation of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X caught many, as well as me, off-guard. Dr. King was an advocate for peaceful protesting, reasoning, negotiation and of winning the public over while appeasing everyone. Some may have called him a pacifist because while Malcolm X and the Panthers were for Black liberation and Black supremacy as opposed to White Supremacy, Dr. King was in favor of a peaceful co-existence between both the races. Even though Dr. King voiced his opinions loud and clear about the injustices in Birmingham and all the southern states, he openly condemned the actions of other non-peaceful black protests. He regarded their movement in a very unfavorable light and in a move that was rather controversial; he agreed with the white public that what the extreme black political activists were doing was not constructive.

Every point that Dr. King had to make was related back to the Bible or the church. He drew symmetrical lines between his letter and St. Paul's writing. He was also able to draw parallels between him and Socrates as advocates of change and open dissent of public opinion and both of their connection to the Bible. "Just as the prophets of the eighth century...my own home town". (King, 174) His open disagreement with unjust laws was also in accordance with the Bible. He mentioned that just laws were laws that went along with the natural moral laws. Anything that went against that natural law or morality was unjust. He pointed out that following an unjust law would go against one's own morality, and for whoever had any religious morality, they would not want to partake in an unjust law. Dr. King clearly identified that, not obeying an unjust law would be the just thing to do, which was very meaningful and thought provoking. For anyone affiliated with religion and morality, this was an interesting angle which Dr. King brought up because it questioned one's own principles. This was Dr. King's main purpose - get the public to think about the situation at hand.

Because of his ability to subtly, yet successfully, reach out to so many different groups of people, Dr. King was more successful in getting his message across. From what I can gather, Dr. King was a peaceful protestor who wanted to bring everyone together. I believe that in his letter, he was able to stress the importance of negotiation and make a clear difference