Southern White had no conception of what life was like in Black churches, for religion was segregated in the South, just as segregated as all other aspects of social life. Thus White leaders were thrown off balance by the calm and peaceful spirituals sung by King's marchers. The use of nonviolent marching and demonstrations in general was also powerfully upsetting to the idea that somehow Blacks were violent. The White enemy was prepared for rioting, not for peace along the equally pacific lines of the Indian activist Gandhi, King's professed inspiration along with Jesus' advice to turn the other cheek when struck by one's enemy in conflict.
Faced with nonviolent Black Christian American marchers, King's enemy was forced to live up to its own American Christian ideals, and failed miserably in doing so. This was because the Southern police could not suppress nonviolent civil disobedience and integration except with violence, and the subsequent incarcerations of Black nonviolent protesters highlighted the injustice of the system. Seeing people put in jail for peacefully sitting next to someone of a different race for eating a sandwich highlighted the absurdity of segregation, and the absurdity of fears of mixing the races in the Southern United States.
The use of faith made the marches, if not enjoyable in Alinsky's words, at least, profoundly moving for King's adherents. King's marches and negotiations were also quite pointed in their attacks. Nor did negotiations ever dragged on too long -- for although King was criticized for his swiftness and refusal to wait for concessions, this enabled him to mobilize the spirit of his people with great resolve, and to keep up the pressure on the local authorities,...
He clarifies his status i.e. A spiritual leader and a learned person by using well chosen ethos of St. Aquinas, Jesus and Paul therefore puts him forth as a trustworthy person. Also being an African-American makes him the right person to participate in this event because he understands the situation properly. By use of logos he explains the reason behind the actions of the black persons of which the
... we noticed all over the polo grounds almost a half million people.... I could hear people shouting all over that vast audience, "Freedom, Freedom!" before I knew it, I started weeping. I was crying for joy.... And I could hear that old Negro spiritual once more crying out: 'Free at last, free at last, Great God Almighty, I'm free at last (Carson).'" Finally, Dr. King pointed out that," "The
Why and how Black Power, Nation of Islam, and other approaches to racial and social justice were overshadowed by King's version can be traced to the fact that King's approach had a more universal appeal. King was able to become the figurehead of the Civil Rights movement because he was willing to engage in dialogue with white leaders, which was often a difficult and daunting task given the fact that
King and Douglas Frederick Douglass 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 Douglass was an escaped slave who became the leading black abolitionist in the
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
King evokes many of the philosophical premises that justified Gandhi in his actions, and explicitly mentions another famous social agitator -- Socrates -- in the hopes of solidifying the logical foundations of the notion of social protest. When it comes to commitment and communication, the two can easily be displayed in the case of King through his famous letter from the Birmingham jail, where King demonstrated both his ability to
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