Analyzing Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs Open Letter - 768 Words

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during a peaceful protest march in Birmingham, Alabama. While he was incarcerated he wrote an open letter, using the salutation My Dear Fellow Clergymen, explaining his beliefs and his mission. It is a powerful and moving essay that clarifies Dr. Kings position. Even more, it was a call to action for all good people to join the cause of the civil rights movement. Dr. Kings explicit audience for the letter were the clergymen who were critical of the demonstrations and even questioned Dr. Kings right to be in Birmingham in the first place. Dr. King explained, to begin with, that his position as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) brought him to Birmingham, as he had been invited by an affiliate organization. Dr. King further made the case that no invitation was really necessary. As he stated, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The injustices in Birmingham, he argued, affected every citizen of the United States. No one could be an outsider in ones own country or become involved in a cause that was not his as determined by geographic demarcation. The cause of freedom was the right and the responsibility of every American. It was to this much larger audience that Dr. King wrote. In particular, the section in which Dr. King described the pain and humiliat ion suffered by blacks was meant for a white audience. African-Americans