The letter from Birmingham Prison, written by famed human rights activist Martin Luther King, is a consistent response to criticism about the rationale behind his and his followers’ actions. King’s activist actions and his spread of awareness of the need for tolerance for race, culture and religion are called untimely and unwise. The purpose of the letter is to justify the actions of King and his associates, which should demonstrate the comment of King’s opponent as inspired by massive prejudice and fear.
The author reasonably begins his essay by explaining why it was composed. The essay emerged as a response to a criticism that King feels was made out of real misunderstanding, not blind enmity. By calling his addressee a “person of good will,” King rhetorically disposes the interlocutor to understand another perspective, which can also exist in the name of a good cause. At the same time, the author emphasizes that it is for this reason that he generally undertook to respond to criticism. There are so many negative reactions to King’s protest actions that he uses hyperbolic comparisons to emphasize it.
King’s letter is an attempt to answer why it is impossible to build a dialogue between the oppressed and the oppressors. The author uses the accusation against his activity in inciting violence and turns it against the opponent. King argues that his actions should create the necessary critical tension in order to ensure the onset of dialogue between the parties. At the moment, according to him, this dialogue is impossible due to the aggressive attitude of the other side. The opponent, according to King, uses the accusation of aggression in order to make the dialogue with minorities meaningless and turn it into a one-sided monologue.
King uses comparisons with the great humanist figures, Jesus Christ, the Greek philosopher Socrates, in order to emphasize the opposition between the state system and the individual throughout human history. He emphasizes that a fair and equal dialogue is impossible in a situation where a person is forced to “withdraw his efforts” in order for their demand for rights to be heard in general. It is important for King that the perspective of the little person is viewed in the context of confronting the collective consciousness.
The author strives to change the perception of his opponent, forcing them to understand that throughout history it was often the society, the crowd, that turned out to be insane, in contrast to the individual. The human rights activist has a certain stigma in society that, in order to maintain the oppressive order of things, are ready to accuse them of inciting violence.
This letter needs to be taken in the context of the social tension of its time, which explains the really contradictory tone of this essay. King’s letter may seem shocking in its own right, since its last pages can in fact be interpreted as an apology for extremism. However, the social pathos and the desire to sharpen the problematic issue in the discussion as much as possible explain this fierce intonation of the author. In this way, Martin Luther King wants to make the problem the subject of lively discussion, real dialogue, instead of hushing up the prevailing cruelty and injustice. The letter clearly copes with its goal of giving the reader an understanding of the social imbalance and the paradoxical position of a fighter for his rights in society.