Martin Luther King Jr Rhetorical Analysis

Within this analysis essay, I will identify three key ways in which Martin Luther King Jr justified the use and morality of nonviolent disobedience to condemn segregation. King justifies his advocation of civil disobedience through the South’s refusal to negotiate, unceasing pleas to “wait”, and its creation of unjust laws. Southern officials refused to confront the issue of racial inequality in the South. By refusing to acknowledge that problems exist, Southern religious and political leaders stemmed creation of any type of substantive policy to change the South. Black leaders on the other hand, “…sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation…,” (Page 2, King). Martin Luther …show more content…
With stagnated negotiations, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue,” (Page 3, King). Simple meetings with white Southern leaders were ineffective in expressing the pain and the passion of the struggling black community. Meetings could easily be brushed aside and written off, but rallies, sit ins, and strikes could hardly be ignored. It’s far easier to disregard one person in a meeting than the hundreds of thousands of people that may attend a march. MLK viewed nonviolent direct action as an essential step to prompting debate and discussion to lead to real change in the …show more content…
Despite repeated attempts by black leaders, white pastors, priests and politicians refused to seriously debate the morality of segregation. At best, southern moderates conceded that segregation was wrong but that it wasn’t worth the instability of change to remedy injustices. MLK instead contends it is morally imperative that the shackles of segregation are lifted-that it is a sin to stand idly by while segregation persists. Like the catalysts for many civil rights movements before him, Martin Luther King Jr used civil disobedience to create social and political change without

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