Response to Dr. Kings Letter to Clergymen Essay

We had to write an argumentive essay responding to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responds to the clergymen's letter to him in Birmingham Jail. We were to include a counter argument.

Martin Luther King strongly believes in protesting for the Civil Rights of African American citizens. I agree with his argument and viewpoint completely. There are two kinds of citizens in the US, citizens and non-citizens. There should be no in-between when it comes to citizenships and rights. If someone doesn't act for equality things will never change.

To be direct, African Americans are citizens just as much as Caucasians. The Africans that were brought to the states helped build this nation. In actuality the only true citizens or "all Americans" are the Native Americans. In the Declaration of Independence, it says all men are created equal. This means that there are no second-class citizens. Martin Luther King is protesting for that to be a truth in the United States. The Constitution is made for everyone. Martin Luther King is protesting so that the Constitution will not only be used against us but for us, as it is with Caucasians.

To elaborate, the government affects blacks. We have to stop at red light, pay our taxes, and obey the speed limit. So, we should be able to elect the people that are going to ultimately affect our lives the greatest. With protesting voices will be heard and African american will be recognized as a part of the country. If no one acts on voting rights for African Americans, then the matter will appear as contentment and will be looked at as something that is not necessary. Then African Americans would seem to enjoy the blissful ignorance.

The problems of inequality will not simply just die down if things are left alone. In fact, things will only continue to get worse with each passing day. Frustration will continue to boil causing violence. Hate crimes will come as often as mosquito bites. Standing up for Civil Rights is the best thing for African Americans and Caucasians. Martin Luther King is a role model and gives his oppressed people hope by doing what he does. To tell Dr. King to stop his demonstrations is the same thing as telling him to give away the hope he has built up in his community.

The Alabama clergymen ask the police to "remain calm and continue to protect our city from violence." However, in Dr. King's article he says " there have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any city in this nation." The clergymen men also request that "Negro community to withdraw support from theses demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham." This is directly disputed when Dr. King states, "...Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. However, the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation."

Dr. King's actions were completely necessary in the struggle for equality among African Americans. Negotiations were attempted but refused, hence producing no results. To call his demonstrations extreme is something expected from someone who hasn't experienced the oppression and brutality that Negroes had to go through. That is why I fully support his actions and admire him for having the courage to stand up for justice.

If someone doesn't no one takes action to preserve equality, things will never change.

Your intro is very weak, but I agree with you!!! :) Strengthen the intro. Say something direct. This is an argumentative essay, so argue! Say what you mean. You indicate that you and king "believe in protesting for the Civil Rights of African American citizens," but that is not what you really mean. You should make a thesis that says that you believe in protesting when wrongs are being committed.

Make sure you look closely at the first few pages of the letter. It tells all about specifically hat he and they disagree about. King says it is unfortunate that the protesting is going on, but that it is even more unfortunate that they are forced to do it. Are they forced to do it? I think they were, and so do you, and that is what their argument as about.

But what about now? What modern injustice is happening, and in what ways are we failing to act? Anyway, for the essay, it seems like that want you to pick a side and argue for it.

Are you supposed to write a response to Dr. King from a modern perspective, or as if you were someone living at the time he wrote it? The instructions, and the way you begin your essay, seem like the latter, but then at the end you sound more like the former, that is, someone writing fifty years later. It makes a difference, because America is a very different place now that it was then. You might want to revise the ending of your essay so that the entire thing sounds like a response written by someone living at that time. If you do, you might want to role-play a bit and consider who exactly you are supposed to be -- a white moderate, a black activist, or perhaps even one of the clergymen. For that matter, that last would make a lot of sense, because he wrote the letter to them in response to a letter they wrote to him. So, you could write as if you were one of the clergymen writing back to him, continuing the exchange. Of course, to do that, you would have to disagree with him, because that's what the clergymen would have done. That might actually be a really interesting exercise, because you would have to put yourself in the shoes of someone you presumably disagree with vehemently, which is always a good learning experience.