I cannot imagine what treatment people of color would face if there had been no Martin Luther King, Jr. Many people think that the United States is the freest country in the world. However, “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor” (King 207). In the Civil Rights Movement, the black people who fought for freedom were deplored. King, in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” refutes a strong opposition while he was confined in the Birmingham city jail. King’s purpose was to persuade the white moderates to help the black people to break injustice with nonviolent direct action. He used an interesting rhetorical triangle: ethos, pathos, and logos, in order to restate to the eight white religious leaders of the South that all men are created equal. Let me examine King’s letter to learn how his ideas inspire me to think about human rights in my country by using the rhetorical triangle.
First of all, Religion right is one important part of human rights. Even today, many countries claim to have freedom of religion, but the range of activities of religious people is limited. As a Chinese, I see that the active religion is often banned. In the United States more than fifty years ago, as a sincere Christian, King was often regarded as an outsider who would take in trouble. However, in the first part of his letter including paragraphs 1 to 5, King began his respect to the eight white religious leaders by reflecting why he was in Birmingham. This part would be an introduction part of the letter, and King developed his thesis by using appeals to logos. As an outsider who did not live in Birmingham, King needed to be there “because I was invited here.
I am here because I have organizational ties here” (King 204), but the main reason is “because injustice is here” (King 204). In fact, King was there, for he was asked to be on call to engage in demonstration because some white people left the Negro community with no choice. King used Logos in order to explain that he has to come to Birmingham, and Logos let him prove that his presence was very reasonable. King was not lucky, for his activities were unpopular too; but there were at least some people who would listen to his retort at that time. How do those countries have freedom of religion if they limit range of religious people?
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Secondly, since all men are created equal, why do some people spend too much time waiting for their freedom? Shifting to paragraphs 6 to 14, King became impatient and even angry to question how long they needed to wait for freedom if they did not implement nonviolent direct action. In this part, King’s mood began to change, and he gave me the strongest feeling that King appeals to emotions. Why not negotiate? Why need the demonstrations? King says, the white people break their promise repeatedly, the black people try repeatedly and they are now disappointed. For freedom, King and his brothers and sisters had waited for a long time. King pointed out angrily that the Negro experienced lynching, insults, isolation, and discrimination, and they do not even know how to explain all this to children. King did not need any philosophy; with Pathos, he succeeded in a list of all the unfair treatment that the black people faced. Cannot blacks be angry? The black people are human, not animals! I have the same tone with King when I read this part of his letter, for it makes me remember my experience.
