The Answer of Unity Essay Example for Free

The Answer of Unity EssayIn Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. forms a rational and well grounded argument for direct action, non-violent civilized rights campaigning in the specific context of the open earn A Call for Unity. Through both form and function, Dr. King fleshed out the reasons for his approach with the expect that by shedding light on his tactics, the clergymen and their followers would no longer remain silent companions of segregation.This brief essay will outline some of those illustrious explicit examples by discussing how the rhetorical style and physical evidence provided Dr. Kings letter with a vital sense of urgency. This open response letter speaks directly to his critics in a language that is calm and exacting. He sp ars no detail and tackles each criticism with the hopes of (re)negotiating the terms on which direct action non-violent campaigns are publicly perceived. Dr. King initially responds to the charge that they were outsi ders coming in to Birmingham and did not have a personal reason to demonstrate there.He responds to this criticism through a discussion and import of the inter-relatedness of the racial situation in America, or what he more eloquently states, The inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. By stressing the fact that the racial climate affects everyone, both directly and indirectly, Dr. King is rallying his argument around the basis of common conglutination and unity which directly responds to the title of the clergymens letter, A Call for Unity. In this way, he indicted the silent majority for being accomplices to the factors that led up to the demonstration, while the clergymen were unsuccessfully trying to typecast the demonstrators and the demonstration as being an extremist approach that would lead to violence. Dr. King answered this call by stating the four steps to non-violent campaigning, an approach that aimed to bring out tension with the ulti mate goal of creating dialogue rather than monologue. Dr.King offers another striking defense of his philosophy when he moves on to the discussion of timing and wisdom. The clergymen were revolutionize that the demonstration was taking place so quickly after the city of Birmingham elected Mayor Boutwell. They argued that the demonstrations did not offer enough time for the new city manager to initiate civil rights policies. However, Dr. King noted that the Civil Rights movement, not only in Birmingham, but across the country, had already waited over 340 years to gain their immanent rights promised to them by the Constitution.He cites the fact that prior negotiations had only led to further disappointment and broken promises on the part of the white city government who had hold to take down segregationist signs throughout the city. He places this argument in the context of negative versus peremptory peace, where negative peace is the absence of tension and positive peace is the p resence of justice. Dr. King was fighting for positive peace in the name of love and God, a language the clergymen were familiar with but had not apply to their everyday teachings.Ultimately, Dr. King deconstructed the clergymens letter down to an ideological and fear-based argument that aimed to maintain the status quo. Perhaps his critique of the white majority and the silence of the Christian church was his most heartfelt and scathing critique and that caused him the greatest disappointment. Despite his disagreement with the clergymen, Dr. King offered a immanent defense of his philosophy that effectively unfastened the way for further direct action, non-violent civil rights campaigning.