Non Ficton Reaction

Non Fiction Reaction Paper

August 30, 2010

ENG/125

Non Fiction Reaction Paper

The two stories that I read for this assignment were “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “Salvation.” The first story I will analyze will be Martin Luther King’s letter. On Good Friday in 1963, 53 blacks, led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., they marched into downtown Birmingham to protest the existing segregation laws. All of them were arrested. This caused the clergymen of this Southern town to compose a letter appealing to the black population to stop their demonstrations. This letter appeared in the Birmingham Newspaper. In response, Martin Luther King drafted a document that would mark the turning point of the Civil Rights movement and provide enduring inspiration to the struggle for racial equality. Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” strives to justify the desperate need for nonviolent direct action, the absolute immorality of unjust laws together with what a just law is, as well as, the increasing probability of the “Negro” resorting to extreme disorder and bloodshed, in addition to his utter disappointment with the Church who, in his opinion, had not lived up to their responsibilities as people of God. King's justification to the eight clergymen for protesting segregation begins with a profound explanation of their actions, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”. The actions of the African American people are overdue and very well planned as King had explained in the letter. Their quest was to force the white politicians to negotiate and actually heed the requests for desegregation. As King explains, “past promises have been broken by the politicians and merchants of Birmingham and now is the time to fulfill the natural right of all people to be treated equal”. Violence is not what Dr. King wants, he simply wants unjust...