Non-fiction and Style - Essay Example

In addition, he argues that it is not immoral to refuse to obey unjust laws. Finally, he indicates that the levels of frustration among the black community are reaching such proportions that something must be done now, while peaceful means are still possible, before this frustration reaches its boiling point and explodes into violence before he criticizes the church leaders for failing to recognize this and helping him to channel this energy more positively. He makes these points by arguing for morality and appealing to human ‘goodness’.

One of the first points King makes in his letter is that the white people have not heard or perhaps even noticed the desperate no-win situation in which the black people were placed following the Emancipation Proclamation. Now that they were free, they had to support themselves, but the segregation laws that had been enacted in the intervening years effectively prevented black people from escaping the extreme poverty in which they found themselves. By staging nonviolent protests, King realized that he could finally force the nation’s attention on the situation in the South.

“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.” If the rest of the nation realized the escalating situation in the South, they would pressure their politicians to take some action on the unconstitutional laws that had been devised and repeal those laws that continued segregation. This argument is also a plea to the politicians to uphold their moral principles as he reminds them that “past promises have been broken by the politicians and merchants of Birmingham and now is the time to fulfill the natural right of all people to be treated equal.

” Answering the contention by the other ministers that