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Wright 1
Olivia Wright
Conway
English 101
October 9th, 2017
MLK’s Letter from Birmingham
A passionate individual, championing the rights of a bullied group; a wrongful
incarceration resulting from this individual’s diplomatic defense of the oppressed. In Letter from
Birmingham Jail, King uses pathos in order to effectively portray how unjust the treatment of
blacks was during this time. In any sentence in the entirety of the essay, replace the word
“negro” with the word “person”, replace “blacks” with “people”, and it’s guaranteed that any
given person with even an ounce of morality would be severely opposed to the actions taking
place. Pathos is a quality or in this case, a phrasing, that brings on feelings of pity or sadness. By
appealing to the emotional sense of the reader, King is able to further prove his point on how
awful the treatment is of African American people in Birmingham, Alabama was.
No one wants to think about a child being burdened with the hate of so many people,
when they’ve done nothing wrong themselves. That is why when King’s words, “...when you
have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in an agonizing pathos, ‘Daddy, why do
white people treat colored people so mean?’” (2), are read, it does more than just give a simple
example of the racism that even children faced in this time. This quote showcases how the
innocent rays of childhood are being burdened with the societal norms of the time period.
Children are arguably the purest of our culture, and the thought they they’re dealing with
something bigger than anything their little minds can imagine is heartbreaking. This is still
prominent in our world today, albeit less obvious than it was in the time of the letters writing.
Wright 2
Generally, it’s far more difficult to be cruel to a child than it is to an adult. Children aren’t born
with prejudices or thought of racism, they’re taught these things. Replace “white people” with
“rich people”, and “colored people” with “poor people”, and you have a completely different
scenario with the same outcome. Having to explain the unjust actions of the world to a small
child is possibly the hardest thing a parent can do. The mindset that blacks had no rights may
have been accepted by many adults in the world, but then once their child starts to gain insight
on the topic and asks, “why am I treated differently than my white friends?” they’re forced to
think. Parents will go through a lot just so their child won’t have to. Once their child starts to
become affected, they’re forced to sit back and think, “is this really okay?”. Having to explain to
a little kid, not even old enough to attend school, that black people are treated poorly due to their
race and the supposed inferiority of their coloring, makes one take a deeper look at what has
