Question

While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would be engaged in little else in the course of the day and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine goodwill and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

Answer 1

What is the effect of his choice to start his letter in this way? Answer the question in complete sentences. In your response, be sure to discuss the purpose and tone of this opening paragraph and explain how it works with the overall structure and purpose of the letter.

Answer 2

@Kristen17 @raimj512 @amscasey Can you help? /:

Answer 3

I'm sorry...I honestly have no idea...

Answer 4

I have no idea too :( Sorry.

Answer 5

uggg... okay !

Answer 6

Sorry Lexis ! I dont know this either :( Its something i have eyt to read :/

Answer 7

You don't have to read it .. You just have to answer the question of what the effect is of starting the letter this way! But thanks anyways guys.

Answer 8

oh my bad. let me give it a shot here...
well in my opinon you might go on it by starting with how its kind of discarding the negative critisim he recieves.

Answer 9

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: (1) Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive; (2) Negotiation; (3) Self-purification; and (4) Direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any city in this nation. These are the hard, brutal, and unbelievable facts. On the basis of these conditions Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.

I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people ...—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

In complete sentences, answer the following questions: What is the main idea of each paragraph? How are the ideas connected? What is the effect of making these points in the order King has chosen?

Answer 10

The first paragraph is mostly about what makes up a peaceful campaign and what this "campaign" will be about; black rights. The second paragraph's main idea is that african americans are segregated against quite often and how unfair, and unjust it is. Having to explain to a young child why they cant go somewhere, simply pecause the way they look. they are connected in the fact that they are adressing black rights, and the unfair, unconcstituional segregation that has been occuring towards the negro community. The effect of making the points in the order they were made emphasizes the "if it were you" type situation, if it were the caucasions who were to get segregated who would sit idly? nobody.

Answer 11

It emphasizes his point that blacks are treated unjustly

Answer 12

Thank you @amscasey

Answer 13

No problem @lexis98