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King’s Letter Considered a Classic Argument
After being jailed in the Birmingham city jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister who preached nonviolence, wrote this response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama. This letter was not only composed under somewhat constricting circumstances but was written in a way that can be analyzed to be considered as a classic argument. Not only does it contain the five elements needed in a rhetorical situation, but the letter includes the six parts of an argument, the five types of claims, and even the three types of proofs. Dr. King’s letter fully satisfies all requirements needed in order to be considered a classic argument.
In accordance to the TRACE elements needed in a rhetorical situation, all five are present. The text includes a letter type written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explaining why he is in a Birmingham city jail and the injustices he sees in the state of Alabama. The targeted audience is the eight fellow clergymen whom he is replying to after being presented a letter by those clergymen. The audience also includes the general public like the whites and the blacks in the community. The author of the letter is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself, a Baptist minister who preached nonviolence and was a pivotal leader in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Dr. King was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a vital group that led many affiliations to peaceful marches and sit-ins throughout the civil rights movement. The main motivation for this letter is Dr. King’s own view of the injustices apparent in the Negro community and the intended actions the community is taking. Some constraints Dr. King faces while writing this letter are the events leading up to this publication like nonviolent marches and sit-ins, circumstances surrounding this instance like the gradual appearance of a civil rights movement where blacks are suffering injustices in the community from whites in all aspects of life, and lastly the prejudices against blacks and their actions to alleviate their current situation. The constraints create common ground for many of the Negro community while further separating those against it. Lastly, the exigence of this piece of text clearly defines the problems of social injustice many Negros face either in the state of Alabama or in surrounding states. It is perceived as a problem because the injustices are gradually growing larger, to a point where the Negro community must not let the problem go on any longer.
Dr. King’s claim is obvious and present, clearly presenting the main point of the argument as being in Birmingham because of the injustice toward the Negro community. Quoted directly from the letter, Dr. King states, “there can be no gain-saying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this [Birmingham, Alabama] community” (277). This quote demonstrates the statement of claim found directly from the text itself. Continuing on, the claim is supported by multiple subclaims like unjust treatment in the courts, unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham, and unfulfilled negotiation plans with merchants who promised to remove multiple stores’ humiliating racial signs. Next, support throughout the letter is apparent in order to uphold the injustice claim made in the beginning. To name a few, King presents evidence of his fellow brothers and sisters suffering the injustices of slavery and racial injustice through means of pathos and ethos. His strategy of conveying emotional proof and displaying emotional language, examples, and vivid description all aided in the support of his claim. One warrant includes the notion that the Negro community must take actions into their own hands by implementing a non-violent direct-action program to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change. Backing is provided as having patiently waiting by postponing and then further postponing direct-action plan to a point where the wait has been long enough. Rebuttals on the issue of why direct action or why sit-ins, marches, and so forth. Dr. King states that, “direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue” (278). Dr. King’s goal of direct action leads to an eventual negotiation between the two conflicting parties. Another rebuttal is the problem of insufficient time to act, which is rebutted by the idea that an individual