King’s Letter and Reason to Civil Disobedience

King’s Letter and Reason to Civil Disobedience
I. Introduction
Context/ Hook:
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” responds to criticism against him and outlines the ideology of nonviolent protest.
Thesis:
King’s reasonable refutation when He is responding to the charges the clergymen had laid against him and his supporters. The eight “fellow clergymen” who are critical of his direct action-nonviolent resistance campaign is civil disobedience.
Plan:
For King, the Promised Land is the freedom and equality that black people will someday experience in America, so nonviolent is just the response to existing of violence. While the clergymen, essentially, they wanted King to let the problems solve themselves even though these protests are technically non-violent.

II. Body: His refutation about allegations and the power of nonviolent direct actions
1. King responds to the accusation of being an outside agitator that doesn’t belong in Birmingham
a. King worked for freedom and equality for all Americans.
b. King states that he is in Birmingham because he was invited there, he had organizational ties there, and because injustice was there.
c. King views being called an “outsider” as a view which argues against the truth/other’s opinions and compares himself to the apostle Paul.
2. King’s response sets of the reasons behind civil disobedience.
a. A direct action campaign is the only alternative when negotiations fail due to white leaders refusing them.
b. Direct action creates tension that forces them to negotiate.
c. He refutes the idea that he should have given new administration time to act.
3. King states to insist on nonviolence as an essential tactic to achieve justice and equality.
a. African Americans have waited more than 340 years for their rights! They can’t wait any longer.
b. African Americans that it is time to be proactive: ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’
c. King means that we must act for others, not only ourselves “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
III. Conclusion
a. Summary: He famously declares that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere” and avers that no American citizen can be an outsider in the US.
b. Thesis is important: The letter became an essential text of the civil rights movement for its advocacy of nonviolent protest and justifications of civil disobedience.
c. Closing remark: How do we, as a society, define an unjust law? This lesson from King examines the power of nonviolent direct actions as an instrument to change unjust laws.