Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

Dr. Martin Luther King and Aíme Cesáire, were two men with completely different backgrounds. Yet, even on two different continents, discussing two different subjects, parallels are formed between each of their works. While, King, writes from a jail cell in Birmingham about the long fought war against segregation, Cesáire, argues against the savagery of colonization. In, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by MLK, and Discourse on Colonialism, by Aíme Cesáire, both authors analyze, in similar yet different ways, the effects that the psychological states of domination and oppression have on the oppressed and the oppressor. Dr. Martin Luther King is the most, stand-out civil rights activists in history. He fought hard to end of the segregation laws in the United States. He wrote, A Letter to Birmingham …show more content…
In this letter, King portrays the psychological state of oppression and how it causes the oppressed crave the demand for change. The African American community, at this time, was oppressed by unjust segregation laws that degraded part of the population. This state of oppression caused for action, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”(King 5). King held protests to force tension so that the white moderates would be given no other option but to negotiate, instead looking the other way. On the opposite end of the spectrum, domination made the oppressors crave similarity. The dominant class, primarily the caucasian race, did not want their “better” way of life to change. The psychological state of domination gave them a sense of privilege, which made them value order over justice. This order, absent of justice, gave off a false sense of peace. No one brought this to light because that would flaw the order and bring the injustices to light, “ I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail