Madyy Wells 1 Madyy Wells Mrs. Seale AP Language, Block 4 22 February 2012 MLK Analysis In the Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King systematically strikes down the views of eight clergymen through various techniques and refutes them with his own claims to make his audience see their error of their ways and be called to action. The first claim King addresses is "outsiders coming in".(pg1, par2). The clergymen claim that disputes and problems should be handled locally, without the intrusion of outside sources. For example, the clergymen think that the segregation problem and the protests should be resolved in Birmingham alone. King cleverly uses their own words against them by describing the life and purpose of the apostle Paul. He was also an outsider that went into a foreign city to help. Paul was called to Macedonia by a vision, according to Acts 16:9 (NCV). Like Paul, King's help was requested by the people of Birmingham because he was the "president of the Southern Leadership Conference." (pg1, par2). By alluding to the Bible, the clergymen have no choice but to concede because to do otherwise would be going against the word of a God. The next clergymen claim King shoots down is that the civil rights activists should negotiate rather than protest. King directly contrast whites and blacks on the last paragraph of pg 1 when he says, "the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative." Then he goes on in paragraphs 5 and 6 to describe how Negros have been mistreated in the courts and that the few promises made by government officials were broken. King does this to make light of the events the clergymen conveniently forgot to mention in their letter and by doing so, causes his audience to take another step to his side. He ties up his argument in paragraph 8 by explaining the reaction the protesters hope to draw from the population of Birmingham. It's tension. King explains that the protests serve to shove the problem under the noses of the government to a point where the tension is so great, the segregation problem can no longer be ignored. King is slowly backing the clergymen into a corner of hard facts, Biblical comparisons, and fiery emotions that true men of God can't ignore. King then moves on to address the claim that the Birmingham protests are "untimely"(par10). He uses brilliant word choice in par 10 and the beginning of par 11 to say that the clergymen's statement is actually an opinion. He points out that the people who haven't suffered from injustice are of course going to be less concerned about the injustice of others. This incites a feeling of guilt in the clergymen and the white moderate, as they start to see that they have removed themselves from the emotional aspects of the cruelty going on in their city. At this point, they start to feel the emotional pull to take action against the injustice of segregation. The final claim King refutes is that "all laws should be obeyed."(11-16) He starts by stating there are two types of laws; just and unjust. Then he defines what makes a law just or unjust. Basically, an unjust law is out of sync with a higher moral code and a just law is in harmony with it.(par12) He alludes to the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where 3 men deliberately disobeyed a law made by the king himself because there was a "higher moral law at stake."(par16). Once again, the clergymen, being men of God, find it hard to argue with a well used biblical allusion. He also references to Hitler's abominations in Germany being legal and the attempts for justice by the Hungarian Freedom Fighters being illegal to further elaborate this point. The audience is left with the realization that not everything is black and white when it comes to laws. By the end of his letter, King has not only calmly and classily destroyed every single claim made by the clergymen, he's so effectively done so that the clergymen and more generally, the white moderate, are left feeling that there is no other choice but to integrate.