Letter From A Birmingham Jail Essays (Examples)

King also makes another point in this passage that directly refutes something another minister told him. He says that this particular minister told him to be patient and wait for the right time. King points out that time itself never did anything; it is "neutral" as he puts it. It is people's actions that make things happen, King asserts, and though it still takes time and perseverance to accomplish things, they will not happen just by waiting. I think this section really shows King's passion and commitment to his cause, especially when he equates silence and waiting with sin, saying "we will have to repent...for the appalling silence of good people" and claiming that "the time is always ripe to do right." King wants to make it clear that not only were his actions justified, but that they were even necessary, and I think this passage accomplishes that more than…

"In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty."

In that argument, the author also draws a comparison with those most committed to maintaining segregation; presumably, he was referring to those who physically attacked and sometimes killed both African-Americans and white anti-segregation civil rights workers, secretly and under the cloak of darkness. According to Dr. King, one of the hallmarks of justified civil disobedience is that those whose defiance of laws is genuinely a function of their principled objection to laws that are unjust do so openly and unashamedly rather than secretly. The author further explains the basic logic of this conclusion:

"I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who…

Well crafted sentence explaining how the two text evidences show your point of analysis: In his use of metaphors, King poetically dramatizes the length of time African-Americans have struggled for full civil equality, in response to the white ministers' demand that he be patient, moderate, and not 'push' Southern whites to change too quickly.

Third Point of Analysis: King, to address the specific allegations of the white ministers uses rhetorical questions throughout his letter.

Text Evidence: Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Text Evidence: In your statement you assert…

The essay “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King, written in 1963, is a response to a letter that was written by eight white clergymen, who ultimately condemned the strategies that Dr. King used during the American Civil Rights era. It is important to note that the white clergyman who criticized his actions were the most elite members of the clergy in the entire state of Alabama. Their condemnation of Dr. King and his actions were exceedingly damaging, also because they attempted to label him as an extremist, and his tactics a manifestation of extremism. The letter from a Birmingham Jail was Dr. King’s precise rebuttal to their condemnation of him, his strategies and his goals. The letter details King’s correct argument about why nonviolent protest is essential, and why breaking an unjust law is crucial in order to reestablish justice because King shows that justice and…

He knew that racial divides could be conquered as long as men remained rational.

King's appeal to authority, or ethos, emerges when he states it was "was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake . . . To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience" (King). Here King illustrates how civil disobedience has good consequences and, in the end, one must follow one's on inclination. hen he refers to the Boston Tea Party, he is appealing to ethos because they were disobeying, too. His appeal is logical and more difficult to dispute. The last thing King wanted to do was seem illogical and irrational.

ork Cited

King, Martin Luther. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." 1963. University of Pennsylvania online.

Information Retrieved January 27, 2009.

Abstract

Writing a Letter from Birmingham Jail analysis essay offers the student the gift of going back in time to the courage and ferocity of the Civil Rights Movement to examine one of the most eloquent documents of that era. The Civil Rights Era was one of the uglier periods in American history—and one of the most triumphant and inspiring. No document embodies this dichotomy as fully as King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. In it, King details many of the horrors that black Americans have suffered at the hands of white hatred and complacency. Yet, the letter is without a doubt, a document of hope and conviction, inspiration and profundity. This paper details the background circumstances that provoked King in writing the letter and examines closely the brilliance contained in the words, ultimately discussing why it remains such a lauded document even today.

Introduction

Letter from Birmingham Jail is often…

Letter from the Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr., and "A Letter from the Clergy" by some leading spiritual clergy in Birmingham, Alabama. Specifically, it will summarize the two letters. Both of these letters provide compelling reasons for what the authors believe in, and they are both very persuasive and convincing in their own way.

The clergymen believe that King's actions, in creating a march that led to many arrests (including King's own arrest), is the wrong way to attempt to gain civil right for black Americans. They believe that these measures are "extreme" and not necessary for the circumstances. They write, "We also point out that such actions to incite such hatred and violence, however technically peaceful these actions might be, have not contributed to the resolution of our local problems" (Miller 486). This is persuasive for a number of reasons. First, the clergy note that even peaceful…

You carefully outline the four steps to your non-violent approach of ending segregation: determining the existence of injustice, attempting to negotiate, purifying and preparing individually and as a group, and finally engaging in peaceful direct action. The case you make for these points is strong, and the evidence in Birmingham supporting this pattern of behavior on your part, and on the part of our enemies as well, is equally apparent. I do not understand, then, why you insist that the same methodologies that have proven ineffective in the past will somehow work with continued pressure. Your insistence on this non-violent approach is no better than the constant cries of "Wait!" which you claim -- correctly -- echo so painfully in the ears of the so-called Negro men, women, and children who have yearned for freedom for centuries.

Another rising leader of the so-called Negro, Malcolm X, has insisted that "Truth…

Justice

The human race has been face-to-face with inequality and injustice since the beginning of time. First there was the inequality of religion, than there was the inequality of gender, the inequality of social status and most recently the inequality of color. All of these inequalities have been eliminated one by one with the belief in freedom. Looking over all of the events that eliminated inequality such as the French revolution and Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech a question comes to the mind. A question asking whether there is a "secret" to justice and if there is one what is it?

If there is a secret to justice, perhaps poets will be the first to tell. Maya Angelou, one of America's foremost poets, talks about the spiritual secrets of African-Americans in her essay "Graduation." At the close of the autobiographical essay, Angelou states, "If we were a…

Furthermore the rhetoric here is rich in symbolism. Dr. King draws parallels between the response of violence to his peaceful protests and other great personalities whose commitment to justice, truth, and love also had unintended and unfortunate consequences. Personalities like ocrates and Jesus, for example, could not be expected to deny their truth for fear of public reaction. Dr. King makes this argument even stronger by also drawing the parallel between himself and the completely innocent person, whose possession of money resulted in the evil of theft. By drawing these parallels, Dr. King points out that an argument regarding the actions of others cannot be used to condemn those who protest peacefully. Dr. King and his followers are innocent of the crime of violence. Dr. King's argument is therefore that they cannot be held accountable for the violence committed by others, who are neither followers of his, nor affiliated with…

Coatesville" John Jay Chapman "The Letter Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther

Deeply Disillusioned

The United States of America has meant a wide variety of things to several different people, particularly to those who have had to call its shores home. The initial promise of this land -- as one of redemption, as a place where the lofty ideas engraved within such documents as the Bill of Rights and the Constitution have never been fully realized by a widening number of people who have never been treated with the degree of parity and ideals within them -- wasted little time in going sour. Virtually any Native American can tell you: there can never be justice on stolen land. In spite of this fact, men such as Martin Luther King, Jr. have written their own documents (such as "Letter From A Birmingham Jail," a discourse about the need for public non-violent protest) attempting…

The Palestinians have never the Jewish version of history and desire to have all the land returned to them. This conflict is intractable and there is little hope of a resolution in the immediate future.

In applying Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian realism to the conflict summarized above it should be noted that Niebuhr was a Zionist who strongly supported the right of Israel to occupy the land and defend itself. His Christian realism combines there elements of realism, political realism, moral realism and theological realism (Moseley 23). Thus, the conflict must be understood firstly as a problem on sin in the lives of the inhabitants of the area. The groups involved will firstly need to understand their action as a product of a sinful experience (Inboden). They should be prepared to act in moral and right way toward their fellow men. The Jews should be prepared to live peacefully with the…

The first independent clause begins in a strong active voice, with a strong decisive verb, (Graff, 2006).

This represents his shift from true passiveness to a form of non-violent action. Then, the dependent clause "realizing that except for Christmas," begins with a gerund. The verb to realize is transformed into a noun with the adding of a "-ing." This is aimed at showing the general modality of the speaker. The speaker and all involved had a previous knowledge of the realization involved in the process. Then King Jr. refers back to the object Easter with the subject and verb of "this is." This is a form of a relative clause which is therefore a form of adjective clause, (Lewis, 1986).

The next sentence continues the modality of the gerund verb. This sentence is a dependent attached to an independent clause first beginning with a gerund, "Knowing that a strong economic…

Birmingham Campaign of 1963 and the Civil Rights Movement
Since the end of the Civil War and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery in America, equal rights for African Americans was one of the anticipated outcomes. Yet, the law did not swing entirely in favor of equality; rather, it offered freedom and segregation. Jim Crow laws were essentially institutionalized with the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision, which affirmed that blacks were “separate but equal” to whites—i.e., they were “equal” in the eyes of the law (after all, the 14th Amendment had affirmed their equality, and the 15th had affirmed their right to vote—even women were not granted that right until the 19th Amendment), but as far as the law was concerned blacks were not permitted to mingle with whites in public. Thus, blacks had to sit in their own sections in a theatre (the balcony—referred to…

Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr., and St. Thomas Aquinas' views on law. Specifically it will discuss the structure of law according to Aquinas. Aquinas divided law into four specific types, but both men agree there are just and unjust laws. Both men talk about the types of laws and whether they are just or unjust, and both have distinct philosophies about when to follow laws and when to ignore them.

Aquinas believed there were four basic types of law (1) eternal law, (2) natural law, (3) human law, and (4) Divine law. Each type of law carried certain characteristics and responsibilities, and each could be interpreted differently. His concept of eternal law is caught up in Divine law and argues that because of Divine eason, a law can indeed be eternal. That natural law is a result of Divine law, and it is purely rational…

Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Locke's views on social contracts. Specifically it will discuss the structure of law according to Locke and how King's views on civil disobedience and how they related to Locke's views. Both men talk about the types of laws and whether they are social contracts, along with our obligation under law.

John Locke believed laws were central to a civil society, and in fact, they defined civil society. He wrote, "Those who are united into one body, and have a common established law and judicature to appeal to, with authority to decide controversies between them, and punish offenders, are in civil society one with another" (Locke 3). He also believed that no one should be exempt from the laws, or a civil society would not exist. Laws are created when civil society elects representatives, who pass laws that act…

American Civil ight Movement

Compare and contrast the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on the basis of their leadership, philosophy, and tactics.

Philosophy

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was a civil rights organization that was initiated by African-Americans in 1957 (Fairclough, 2001). The movement was primarily aimed at ending the segregation and discrimination against the black African population in the U.S. The core philosophy of SCLC revolved around to seek civil rights and economic justice for the people of Southern States having majority of African-Americans.

Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) actually aimed achieving same objectives as those of SCLC but through non-violent sit-in and defiance of segregated dining and lunch services. The core philosophy of SNCC was also eliminating segregation but the mission statement was narrower compared to SCLC.

Leadership

The most prominent leader of SCLC was Martin Luther King, Jr. Other prominent…

King and ouglas

Frederick ouglass and Martin Luther King were truly great men and great public speakers, and King was also a hero and martyr to the cause of nonviolent resistance who quite possibly was assassinated by Southern racists with the complicity of the federal government. As far as ethos is concerned, both had immense moral authority, since ouglass was an escaped slave who became the leading black abolitionist in the North, while Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister who led the civil rights movement from 1955-68. ouglass in his Fourth of July speech used more pathos than King in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, graphically describing the terrible conditions of Southern slavery that he had experienced himself. Unlike King, he did not make a moral argument for nonviolence although he strongly denounced the United States for betraying its own principles of liberty and democracy for all. In…

Rhetorical Stance

Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. is celebrated four decades after his death because he was an effective and persuasive civil rights advocate. A holiday marks the birthday of Doctor King because of what he accomplished using nonviolent civil disobedience in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi. However, the holiday also reminds students of English, of History, of Speech, and of Law how to be a persuasive rhetorician. King was so effective and persuasive precisely because he was an enormously powerful wordsmith; King was uniquely able to translate overwhelming emotions and sensitive subject matter into logical, well-formed, and inarguable stances. As a result, his "I have a dream" speech has become a part of common vernacular, as have several original sayings derived from his speeches and writings. Statements such as "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" have become so famous that many people would actually be hard-pressed to…

1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Birmingham for his participation in the demonstrations against segregation. While imprisoned, King took the time to respond to the statement against non-violent protests contained in the article "A Call for Unity." In his response from the Birmingham jail, King explains the reasons behind his actions, as well as the imminent social threat that looms over the South. In "The Letter from a Birmingham Jail," King explains his course of action, the events that have led up to it, and the consequences of inaction.

King was jailed for his participation in Birmingham demonstrations that had been brought on by the segregation between the Black minority and the White majority. King states that the most effective course of action against this injustice is civil disobedience. King does not advocate civil disobedience without cause, rather presents the steps necessary for the social uprising against injustice.…

Crime vs. Sin

A criminal justice agency, specifically the police department relies very heavily on its organization to fulfill its duties to society, which is to protect from crime and to serve justice (Kenney & McNamara, 1999). The justice which is to be served depends on the severity of the offense or crime. Crime is quite a complex subject which can be divided into two different categories: natural crime and legal crime. Only legal crime can be processed/punished by the Criminal Justice System. These are acts which are the direct violation of the law which varies from state to state and country to country (Finnis, 2007). This is known as Mala prohibita, or something which is known as a legal crime which is punishable by the law (Vila & Morris, 1999). Natural crime is something which is not written; it is determined by the society you live in and most…

Dr. King devoted considerable space in his letter to explaining the difference between just and unjust laws. He wrote that a just law is manmade but follows moral law or the law of God. Unjust laws, he wrote, are any that degrade human personality. He further stated, "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself." He could not have explained the difference any more simply or beautifully. It is essentially a restatement of the Golden ule, whereby people are expected to treat others as they themselves would want to be treated.

Dr. King explained in the letter that breaking the law was a last resort. "It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with…

MLK

One of the most famous public speeches in American history was delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The context of the speech is important: millions of Americans were growing tired and fed up with the lack of progress made with civil rights and equality. As Mount (2010) puts it, "In 1950's America, the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was far from a reality. People of color -- blacks, Hispanics, Asians -- were discriminated against in many ways, both overt and covert." King grew up in the South and had personally experienced racism and discrimination. He also understood the need to work systematically to eliminate oppression and injustice. In 1959, something momentous happened in King's life that would ultimately lead to his earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled…

would attack the institutional laws that maintained black Americans as vastly unequal from their white counterparts. In his famous missive from legal captivity for protesting on behalf of equal rights, King articulated how it was that the Civil Rights movement could at once work to utilize laws to change institutional segregation and simultaneously resist Jim Crow laws still in effect.

Meditating on the subject, King remarked, "One may well ask: 'How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?' The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'" (King, p. 1) Here, King…

Creative Minds Critical Thinking Famous Thinkers Paper Subjects: Martin Luther King Malcom XS

It is not easy to readily deconstruct the ideas and courses of action that Malcolm X advocated, for the simple fact that those ideas and courses of action changed so much during his relatively short lifetime. It is far easier to do so for Martin Luther King Jr., who was fairly consistent in his ideology and actions. However, when attempting to compare these aspects of these two salient African-American leaders in the middle of the 20th century, there are both points of similarity and of dissimilarity. For the most part, these men supported drastically different ways of accomplishing what was relatively the same objective. That objective, of course, serves as the primary similarity between these men -- each of them was actually working to solve the same problems that African-Americans faced during the Civil rights movement. If…

If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are traveling to find a new sense of dignity… [so] I accept this aware today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history…I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction" (King, 1964).

On the subject of war, King received quite a bit of criticism when he came out against the war in Vietnam. On April 4, 1967, exactly one year…

Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr.

As great a figure as the Noble-prize winning civil rights leader Martin King Luther Jr. may be accounted in the annals of world and American history, and in political, religious, and social rights activism, no man's thought stands alone -- no man's thought springs from simply his own brain in isolation. Every great thinker and leader is part of a larger and complex history of human thought and social influences. Martin King Luther Jr. was a Christian minister and philosopher whose nonviolent philosophy of civil disobedience was profoundly influenced by Biblical, New Testament documents of Jesus and other Christian spiritual writers, as interpreted through the African-American tradition. King also wrote during a time period when the philosophy of the Indian nonviolent leader Gandhi had shown the world how, through nonviolence, the oppressing power's wrongful influence could unintentionally act as a public relations force of…

It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored" (King). King responds to the incredible unfairness of the situation carefully and demonstrates that even from in a prison, a person can argue logically.

Both authors appeal to authority. ollstonecraft lives in a world dominated by man and she must appeal to their logic is she is to make any headway with her arguments. She begins by examining the importance of education -- including the education of women. Educating women is important to ollstonecraft and she builds her primary argument upon the principle that if women are not educated to "become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all" (ollstonecraft). omen are responsible for educating children and they should not under any circumstances, resort to a "false system of education, gathered from the books…

This is why people that had financial resources to move away from the agitated center often chose Harlem. At the same time however,

On the periphery of these upper class enclaves, however, impoverished Italian immigrants huddled in vile tenements located from 110th to 125th Streets, east of Third Avenue to the Harlem iver. To the north of Harlem's Italian community and to the west of Eighth Avenue, Irish toughs roamed an unfilled marshlands area referred to by locals as "Canary Island."

In this sense, it can be said that in the beginning, Harlem represented the escape place for many of the needy in search for a better life. From this amalgam, the Jews represented the largest group, the reason being the oppressive treatment they were continuously subject to throughout the world. Still, the phenomenon that led to the coming of a black majority of people in this area was essential…

" Real Americans support the right of religious people to worship, and would never base legislation on a religious conviction rather than a conviction based on constitutional rights, constitutional law, and Enlightenment ethics.

American political identity is continually changing also because of the incredible ethnic and cultural diversity within the nation's borders. hen gender, sexual identity, socio-economic class, and other factors are also included in the mix, America's political philosophy is naturally heterogeneous. hen new immigrants enter the United States, they contribute to the common ideals of a nation founded on principles like universal liberty and justice. "Debates about immigration and national identity cut to the core of our national self-image as a nation of immigrants, and invariably includes allusions to the past -- real and idealized -- as a way of under- standing and coping with social and demographic changes today," (Segura 278). hite supremacist Americans are currently in…

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Numerous factors are considered in determining whether an individual is worthy of admiration and respect. Some individuals are deemed to be great because they have a unique gift or talent. For example, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Picasso, and Van Gogh are well-renowned due to their universally recognized artistic and musical abilities. ther individuals achieve long-term recognition by making invaluable contributions to individuals and society. For example, Cesar Chavez, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks have attained enduring praise because of the contributions they made to individuals and society. This paper examines the life of Martin Luther King Jr. And the impact he made on society.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'S LASTING IMPACT

It is nearly impossible to understand the full extent and nature of Martin Luther King Jr.'s accomplishments without examining the history underlying the civil rights movement. The United States Supreme…

"

The second way to resist oppression listed by Martin Luther King in his essay is the violent way, a way he disapproves of and a way against which he speaks. "A second way that oppressed people sometimes deal with oppression is to resort to physical violence and corroding hatred. Violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem; it merely creates new and more complicated ones. " This type of resistance is the most striking of all, and the easiest to recognize in real life, and also in this film. It is a type of resistance that both the oppressed and the oppressor sometimes use. A march of protest sometimes turns violent, and by doing so it serves no goal and brings no deliverance to the suffering. In…

' However, ill-tempered is a somewhat subjective judgment, given that the protestors of the civil rights era were likely to be judged as similarly 'ill tempered' by those who opposed African-American legal parity with whites. King's claim of lovingly breaking the law did not mean that he joyously accepted his punishment of jail time for exercising his rights in the segregated south: King may have embraced his punishment because of his hopes for change, not out of some sort of self-abnegating humility. The civil rights movement was about self-assertion of one's rights. The love in his heart came from his hope for the possibility of change. This did not mean, just like contemporary groups, that he was not outraged by his jailing and the violent actions of the police against civil rights demonstrators.

But James J. Lopach and Jean A. Luckowski seem to have another agenda: their distaste for the…

And his group of followers were denied permits to hold peaceful marches through the towns of some southern states. The basis for the withholding of those permits was entirely "lawful" because the decision to do so fell within the guidelines of the city officials. The laws themselves were neutral. However, the decision as to how to apply those laws (and from whom their benefit was withheld) was made on the basis of race, making them violations of procedural due process. As Reverend King explained in his 1964 Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written after his arrest for demonstrating without a permit:

"Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I

have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade.

But such an ordinance becomes unjust…

"I seek to discern the different analytical techniques Aristotle brings to bear on the problem of what justice is" (Allen, 2004). What is interesting to be noticed is that even in the beginning of the book, when presenting the racial segregation at the high school in Little ock, Allen does not turn to religion to explain or condemn the practice, but to the social principles of the Greek philosopher (Morris, 2006).

Some of these principles promoted by Aristotle and used by Danielle Allen could be succinctly presented as follows:

fluidity of our conceptual universe the power / or lack of power of persuasion the art of generating trust the difference between means and intentions friendship and justice - "if men are friends, there is no need for justice between them whereas merely to be just is not enough - it is also necessary to be friends" (Allen 2004 quoting Aristotle)…

Martin Luther King Jr.

The author of this document proposes to write a paper about the life and works of Martin Luther King Jr. It will specifically evaluate the merits of his integrationist works which he foisted upon the nation in the name of civil rights. This topic satisfies the requirement for this research paper in a number of ways. Firstly, it is predicated on one of the five historic ethnic minority groups that are the focus of the class for which this paper is written. Martin Luther King Jr. was widely hailed as a champion of African-Americans. He labored hard to attain civil rights for this group of people. One of the primary ways that he sought to achieve this objective was through the integration of African-Americans with Caucasians.

Secondly, the actions of King Jr. are in accordance with the requirements for action that are a part of this…

acial Discrimination

The social problem studied in this paper is racial discrimination. acial discrimination is any discriminatory act against a person based on race. A subtype of racial discrimination would be racial harassment. The magnitude of racial discrimination is very high: according to the FBI's most recent HCSA report, 51% of reported hate crimes are based on race (Hate Crimes in America, 2015). However, as Blank, Dabady and Citro (2004) point out, "simply identifying an association with race is not equivalent to measuring the magnitude of racial discrimination or its contribution to differential outcomes by race" (p. 72). In other words, it is not easy to define the magnitude of racial discrimination because distilling the cause-and-effect relationship requires testing and in complex socio-economic environments, experiments are difficult to conduct with adequate controls. Nonetheless, a qualitative magnitude may be discerned in the narratives of men like Malcolm X and Martin Luther…

I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk," (para. 47). The use of sarcasm allows King to retain his sense of confidence rather than to seem conciliatory to those who have thrwarted civil rights. Earlier on, King also uses sarcasm to enhance the confident tone of his writing. "I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes." (para 4).

To achieve a balanced tone in the letter, King blends anger regarding discrimination with the hope of liberation. Doing so, King frames civil rights as a necessary part of achieving the social order and the goals of the Founding Fathers. He remains angry while also pointing out that liberation was the ultimate goal of American Independence. King…

Martin Luther King's Letter to the Alabama clergymen written while he is jailed in Birmingham Jail, it is apparent in Luther's reaction that the clergymen disagrees with Luther's course of action, that is, to protest in a "nonviolent," yet "direct" action (par. 7). The clergymen described King's actions in Alabama as "unwise and untimely," since his actions and protests against racial discrimination, according to the clergymen, only brought up tension and pressure to the somewhat peaceful status of the Birmingham society. The action taken by King's group was unwise because of the increased tension that the protests had brought in the society, and untimely, since many of the white American population sees the racial discrimination problem as something that will be solved "in due time," an issue that King termed as the white American society's belief in the "myth of time" (par. 19). The clergymen's disapproval of King and Co.'s…

Clearly, the disadvantages of conducting interviews to interpret history is that often, memories become cloudy and/or lost, and people, as they age, remember things differently. Therefore, some of these memories could be faulty, or at least flawed, and yet, there is no mention of that in the book. There are also quotes in the interviews, and it is hard to imagine that anyone could remember exact words after even 10, 15, or 20 years after the incidents occurred. That means that some of these interviews, although they certainly mean well, could be inconsistent, and that takes away some of the historic notability of this book.

In conclusion, this is a very emotional and personal look into the Civil ights Movement and how it began, grew, and helped obtain equal rights for Black Americans. The author interviewed some of the most influential people in the Civil ights Movement, and their memories…

Democratic Distemper, Samuel P. Huntington offers a deft and in-depth analysis of American political culture. The crux of Huntington's argument is that the 1960s witnessed a "dramatic upsurge of democratic fervor in America," that this upsurge has led to the titular "distemper." Political distemper has in turn created a series of unfortunate paradoxes that are creating ineffective social, political, and economic institutions. One of those paradoxes is that increased political protest against government (such as the anti-war efforts during the Vietnam era) has ironically led to a more emboldened federal budget, greater bureaucracy, and more excessive governmental expenditures. The second paradox is that in spite of a "bigger government," the executive office of the presidency has been weakened to the extent that the country no longer boasts a strong political leader.

Although the bulk of Huntington's argument is objective and descriptive in tone, the author does insinuate by the end…

27). King very definitely understood the challenges facing the movement for justice. He knew he couldn't master all of the challenges but he was effective at planting the seeds of change in the hearts and minds of his followers. In Chapter 3 the authors discuss "cross-cultural communication" and King's "Dream" speech (and his "Letter") both communicated vital messages not just to blacks, but to all of America. King's "Dream" speech ended with words that embraced many cultures: "…all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics…" will join hands and sing "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

orks Cited

Chapter 2 -- Leadership: The Case of the Healthcare Organization CIO

Chapter 3 -- Communicating Across Cultures

Cherry, K. (2013). Transformational Leadership. About.com. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://psychology.about.com.

Goodwin, J.L., Houghton, J.D., Neck, C.P., and Mohan,…

MLK Meaning in Letter From Birmingham

Making Meaning of MLK's Letter to Birmingham

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was written as a response to an open letter that appeared in a local newspaper from eight white clergymen of the state, including bishops, pastors, and a rabbi. In it, they called upon Dr. King for an end to the protests and what they considered "civil disobedience" taking place in the city (Patton 53). They urged instead for patient negotiation and legal action to address any perceived denial of rights to black citizens.

King responded calmly and rationally to the issues raised in the open letter. In what is one of his only written works, the Letter addresses the men as "Fellow Clergymen" and as "brothers." He wrote, "since I feel you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want…

Charles Fort's We do not Fear the Father and Louise Edrich's the Lady in the Pink Mustang, what are the metaphors, similes and allegories in these two poems? How do they enhance the meaning of the poem?

A pink car signifies that she wants to be a girly-girly with a simple life, but the car, proud, and different. The car is a mustang, which is a wild, fast, and promiscuous creature. "The sun goes down for hours, taking more of her along than the night leaves with her," reflects the kind of empty work that she does during the night, and that she only belongs to herself in the day time when she is not performing. "It is what she must face every time she is touched, the body disposable as cups." Could the girl in the pink mustang be a stripper, a showgirl, or a prostitute? Regardless, she feels…

New York City has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. And it's essentially impossible for a normal, law-abiding citizen to acquire a concealed handgun permit. The result is that the majority of New Yorkers are defenseless against the criminals who wish to prey on them. As pointed out by the NY Times article, the SQF program does little to stop criminals, but does a great deal to strip away a New Yorker's fundamental right of self-defense. This is counterintuitive to public safety. hile crime prevention is an important aspect of police work, the reality is the majority of the time law enforcement arrives after a crime has been committed.

The answer then is to arm New York. Arm the public. Restore their fundamental right of self-defense. There's an old saying, "An armed society is a polite society," and this rings true all across the country (except for…

It is also more likely to create a constructive rather than a destructive outcome, it is a process of conflict resolution that may aim to arrive at the truth of a given situation rather than simple victory for one side and it is the only technique of struggle that is consistent with the teachings of the major religions (eber and Burrowes, n.d.).

Nonviolent action is a method by which people who reject passivity and submission, and who see struggle as necessary, can have their conflict without violence. Nonviolent acts are not seen as an attempt to steer clear of or ignore conflict. They are one reaction to the problem of how to act effectively in politics, particularly how to wield powers effectively. It consists of acts of protest and persuasion, noncooperation and nonviolent intervention designed to undermine the sources of power of the opponent in order to bring about change…

Conflict between Civil Obedience and Moral Freedom (Free ill and Personal Conscience) in the Discourses of Henry Thoreau, Martin Luther King, and Plato

People in societies, upon establishing institutions that provides and maintains order, unity, and peace within the society, are bound together through an agreement. This agreement, termed the "social contract," binds people together to commit subject themselves to the power of the government, where part of an individual's free will is given to it. The government acts as an agent, the representative of the people, in order to ensure that all members of the society comply with the laws of Nature, wherein humans are under obligation to follow.

In effect, the government plays a vital role in ensuring the society that peace, unity, and order are established. Any deviation or disobedience from the laws imposed by the society can result to punishment of the individual. Indeed, social institutions…

Martin Luther King Jr.: The End of a Dream

ev Michael King together with his partner, Alberta, gave their firstborn son the name Michael. He later changed his name and his son's to Martin Luther. This was to honor the great 16th century reformer[footnoteef:1]. Just like his namesake, he, Martin Luther, Sr., dedicated his lifetime to rectifying wrongs. As a preacher of Ebenezer Baptist, the ev pressed the church members to fight Jim Crow rulings - local rulings. These laws denied fair treatment to the African-Americans. The rulings violated human rights guaranteed to every U.S. citizen under the U.S. Constitution[footnoteef:2]. ev Luther did not just preach about human rights. He demonstrated his words with action. In January of the year 1935[footnoteef:3], he organized a demonstration against the separation of elevators in the local district courthouse. After eight months, the ev ran an initiative to register the African-Americans as electorates. In…

Injustice anywhere," King went on, "is a threat to justice everywhere."

As to the social and racial injustices King is speaking of, a bit of background into conditions in the South - and specifically, in Alabama - is worthy of some space in this paper. In fact, just a few years prior to the civil rights activism in Birmingham (that saw King arrested and placed in a jail), the lynching of African-Americans in Alabama was not uncommon. The New York Times (August 30, 1933) reported that two "Negroes" were found lynched near Birmingham on a Sunday morning, but the good news was "mob murders have declined"; indeed, the paper reported, "...in the last ten years there have only been four lynchings" in Alabama. And on July 26, 1947, The New York Times quoted the Tuskegee Institute's data that "six out of every seven potential lynchings have been prevented" over the…

Criminal Justice

The Criminal Type

What do you think of when someone talks to you about the 'criminal type'? Is there a specific 'type' of person that can be construed 'criminal?' According to Jessica Mitford, "Americans are preoccupied with crimes of the poor and as such the 'criminal type' has surfaced in American consciousness as a social creation." This paper is going to examine the concept of 'criminal types' and argues that anybody has the potential to be a criminal under certain definitions. We will also examine the concept of 'American ias' towards certain racial and socio-economic groups within the American justice system.

The word 'criminal' according to the Oxford Modern English Dictionary (1996) is "a person who has committed a crime." A crime, in the same dictionary is defined as, "a serious offence punishable by law" (Oxford, 1996). So it would be safe to assume from these definitions that…

The three necessities of life, food, shelter, and clothing, will always remain fundamental for all world citizens. Food sources will shift scope from the factory farm model in place today to smaller-scale organic farms. Smaller in scale but larger in number, farms will also rely less on long-distance transportation for delivery of goods, which will reduce stress on the environment. Housing will also evolve into a more ecologically-conscious industry with emphases on sustainable building materials and efficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems. Finally, all industries including clothing will be regulated not necessarily by corrupt governments but by local watchdog organizations to ensure living wages, healthy working conditions, and quality goods and services.

eferences

Community Development." etrieved Feb 19, 2007 at http://www.mapl.com.au/ComDev.htm

Community Development." (2006). Federal eserve Board. etrieved Feb 19, 2007 at http://www.federalreserve.gov/community.htm

King, Martin Luther (1963). "Letter from Birmingham Jail." etrieved Feb 19, 2007 at http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html

Office of Community…

Social Class

The place and role of social class within the American society

Social class plays a significant role in shaping the American society to what it is today and influences the interaction of people in different social classes and the interaction inn terms of politics as well as influencing the economic trends of given regions.

Definition of social class in the American context -- the various definitions as fronted by different scholars and how they differ.

Significance of understanding social class -- the reasons behind ability to tell the different classes and their characteristics.

Definition of terms-understanding of various terms that will commonly appear in the research.

Background

The brief history of social class-how the issue of social class was perceived during and after the great depression to the current times.

b. The role social class has played in the shaping of American history -- the pertinent aspects of…

M.).

In addition, many people, and our public schools, have adopting a policy of embracing and welcoming the concept of racial and cultural diversity into our school's curricula (U of Maryland). Today's textbooks and other instructional materials include more accurate information about the history of slavery than in times past (Atlantic Monthly).

Perhaps Weinberger saw his comment as a compliment, but perhaps Powell realized that people who only ignore race when looking at high achievers may still be very race-conscious, and perhaps even in a negative way.

SOUCES

Atlantic Monthly. "eview: Slaves in the family by Edward Ball," at The Atlantic Online. http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/bookauth/eballint.htm

Hinman, Lawrence M. "ace, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism -- A Survey of Multimedia esources." Accessed via the Internet Nov. 1, 2005. http://ethics.sandiego.edu/Applied/ace/

King, Martin Luther. "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Accessed via the Internet Nov. 1, 2005. http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html"

University of Maryland. "Diversity Database -- Moving Towards Community." Accessed via…

Communication and Leadership

hat makes a great leader? How is a great leader made? There is no single answer to that question because there are as many different kinds of great leaders as there are problems in society that need to be overcome. hile certainly it is true that many important and effective leaders share a number of the same qualities, it is also imperative to remember that each leader has different challenges that face him or her because of the particular historical circumstances that call that person to be a leader.

This research proposal maps out a plan to study the ways in which African-Americans become leaders in the United States today, looking at the struggles that they have to overcome in terms of the general level of background racism that still exists in this nation. But this is certainly not a research project designed to cast pity on…

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) wrote his 1913 poem "e ear the Mask" in open defiance of the commonly accepted fallacy of his day that African-Americans were happy in the subservient roles they were forced to assume in the face of white racism. Dunbar, through the use of irony, through inverting the positive connotations of smiling, and through the religious rhetorical tropes of exclamation and crying out to God, conveys the cognitive dissonance between the false face African-Americans were forced to portray to earn a living in white society.

The title of Dunbar's and first lines of the poem may at first suggest a mask that an actor or a performer wears. "e wear the mask that grins and lies, / It hides our checks and shades our eyes." (Lines 1-2) However, the next lines of the poem suggest that the nature of the mask that is worn is far more…

Martin Luther King's contribution to the Civil Rights movement in America was certainly significant. He was more than just a figurehead with tremendous oratory skills. As an advocate of non-violent protest he helped formulate, and implement, one of the most important strategies of the Civil Rights era. However, his most important contribution to the Movement was his ability to connect with a majority of Americans. His message concerning injustice and equality swept away divisions based on class or color because he reminded the nation that its very foundations were based on such ideals. Without King's message it is unlikely that history of the Civil Rights Movement would even be recognisable. Consequently, King's contribution to the Civil Rights Movement in America was undoubtable extremely significant.

ibliography

ryant, Nick (Autumn 2006). "lack Man Who Was Crazy Enough to Apply to Ole Miss." The Journal of lacks in Higher Education (53): 60 --…

MLK’s Style
Martin Luther King used ethos, logos and pathos in his Letter from Birmingham Jail by appealing to an ethical justification for his stance, making an emotional appeal, and making an appeal to logic. From the standpoint of ethos—or ethics—King states that he is there in Birmingham “because injustice is here” (King, 1963). As a Baptist minister and a leader of the civil rights movement, he feels he has duty and moral responsibility to be Alabama. He notes, moreover, that he did not show up uninvited but rather that because of “organizational ties,” he was asked to come and represent his organization, which had chapters all over. Thus, King was not an outsider inserting himself into regional politics but rather a concerned leader of a group that was directly impacted by the racism in Birmingham and thus he had a moral responsibility to take ownership of the issue.
King…

He believed strongly in the government's protection of civil rights and equal opportunities for all its citizens. If a government failed to do so, he called for civil disobedience. King (1986) stated that freedom must be taken from the oppressors (p. 292). His concept of meaning was formulated in the crucible of unjust laws and centered on the notion of social justice. This meant attaining freedom, dignity, and social equality for all, not just for the privileged. His advocacy of non-violent protest aligned him with Socrates, as did his subversive speech. He felt strongly that it was every person's ethical duty to stand up peacefully but powerfully against all forms of oppression, and like Socrates he was willing to face death bravely for his cause. As opposed to Aristotle and close to Socrates, he affirmed that one must work to change the material conditions of life as well as social…

Humanities

Importance of the humanities in the professions:

A comparison of "Paul's Case," Muriel's Wedding and Andy Warhol's rendition of Marilyn Monroe

The modern concept of 'celebrity' is that anyone can be famous, provided that he or she embodies an ideal of glamour, using material trappings like clothing and possessions to show his or her 'specialness.' This is a common method of 'selling' a particular product in business.

The idea is paradoxical -- on one hand, celebrities are special, on the other hand the media suggests everyone can be a celebrity and 'famous for 15 minutes' if they buy the right item.

This can be seen in "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather, about a boy who feels as if he is above his classmates.

Paul desires to have a celebrity-like status, based upon his perceptions of himself as having innately refined tastes.

But this costs money, and Paul is unwilling…

Memoirs are effective forms of writing to use for a number of reasons. As a 20th Century American, one can look upon memoirs as both a telling of a time past and a time present; memoirs show a piece of our history, and thus by extension a piece of one's own identity as an American.

A less effective form of writing is that of social science argumentation, which asks us to believe various results of tests, polls, and studies. While an effective means of persuasion, it is not quite as stirring as that of the 'simple' memoir, or story of our 'own' people.

This paper will examine two writings which have been studied this year- that of Margaret Meade's "Coming of Age in Samoa" as well as Whittaker Chambers's "Witness." These two memoirs show different sides of America, and Americans. Meade's "Coming of Age" speaks of a time when she…