Letter To A Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

Cameron Delman
English Composition II
Professor Moreland
3, March 2015
The Productivity of Peace In two shining examples of rhetorical power “A letter to a Birmingham Jail” and “Malcom X’s debate at the Oxford Union” The two great leaders of the civil rights movement outline their platforms and justify their philosophies in regards to how the movement should go about achieving societal change. Although the civil rights movement was brought to national attention by the combined work of MLK and Malcom X, the rhetorical strategies employed by the two are quite different and hold varying degrees of effectiveness. These social justice warriors did not receive an equal amount of respect nor did their ideas have an equal amount of impact because
the concept of rhetorical situation was acknowledged by Martin and conversely ignored or disregarded by Malcom. Rhetorical Situation or the concept that the situation at hand ;should determine the rhetoric used to address an issue or “exigence” is the primary reason that history will forever treasure the work of Martin Luther King and forget the bravery and accomplishment of Malcom X.
The Rhetorical situation is only part of a broader system of analysis developed by the Rhetorician Loyd Bitzer, known as The Bitzerian Method. In this method a text is broken down into several components. First their must always be an exigence, or issue that needs resolving. Furthermore the exigence is only rhetorical when it can be solved in a positive way using persuasion. So an exigence is not merely just a problem, it is a very unique issue that has the potential to be resolved if only the right people can be persuaded to take action. Understanding that an exigence is only rhetorical when the solution lies in persuasion translates to the the second component of Bitzer’s method which is the audience. In this case the audience is not defined to mean a group of people passively receiving a verbal message. Rather in the context of Bitzer’s method an audience means the group of people with the power to initiate change, the group that must be targeted to resolve the exigence. The third and final component of Bitzer’s
method is a set of constraints. Now constraints can be divided into two main groups. There are the situational constraints, these include situations, facts documents and traditions. And there are personal constraints made up speakers character, logical proofs and delivery style. They can also be taken to mean a set of ideological libations such as gender, sex and race. To Understand why Kings approach to resolving the issue of social injustice was so effective and Malcom’s not, one must outline the general beliefs of the two. Both men wanted desperately to exist in a society that did not treat African American’s or people with dark skin as inferior beings. They both were victims of horrible racist acts and shared a common desire to stand as a symbol of pride for their communities. They both saw the same exigence but sought to persuade different audiences. Analyzing both Malcom’s speech and Martins letter in this method almost demands a specific evaluation of their exigences. Martins was twofold, he must explain why the demonstrations that landed him in jail were justified, and must also explain why his people deserve to be treated like equal’s, to be guaranteed the rights every human being deserves. The original reason for the composition of this letter was to respond to a statement published in the newspaper entitled “A Call for Unity”. Authored by eight Alabama clergyman, this statement condemned Martin and his methods. While the statement acknowledged the existence of social injustices it asserted that the issue should be resolved solely in the courts. And that MLK’s activists were “outsiders” causing trouble in the streets of Birmingham. Now Martin agreed that his demonstrations had caused a great deal of tension in the city, but through his anecdotal references to the bible and other historical sources; combined with a rock solid logical path King is triumphant in his goal of justifying both the need for protest, and the morality behind the civil rights movement as a whole. Identifying the audience is the second step of Bitzer’s method. Martin understood that he would never be able to convince members of the Ku Klux Clan that blacks were equal to whites; to be effective he had to target a group he new might be sympathetic to the civil rights cause. This group known as the white moderate, were primarily middle class white americans that adhered to some version of christianity. This group Martin recognized were men and women of morals that for the most part embodied the rational mindset of civilized western society. To garner their support Martin carefully selected the way in which he phrased his position in his letter. From the very beginning he seeks to qualify himself to his audience. Stating “my dear fellow clergyman” a line that tells readers he is a Christian just like them. He goes on to speak of “the honor of serving as president of the souther Christian leadership conference” further displaying his status as not only a christian but a leader and respected individual. Now that he has the respect of his audience Martin begins to justify his position. Comparing his obligation to spread his message of equality to the obligation of the apostle Paul to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. With this he becomes a prophet of freedom who must lilke the apostle Paul respond to the Macedonian call to aid. By drawing these biblical comparisons King provides himself with the highest level of religious authority, indirectly hinting that God himself would support his cause, and to fail to join him would be to fail God. But beyond using religion to persuade the white moderate, King employs a strong logical argument for why the black community deserves equality. He compares the extreme actions of men such as Martin Luther and Thomas Jefferson “we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal” or Abraham Lincoln “this nation cannot survive half slave and half free” to his own cause and his own assertions. He argues that it is only human to desire freedom and brings in highly esteemed philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas who's logic that “an unjust law is one that is not based in eternal law and natural law” supports kings own logic that: “any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust”. Martin saw the issue of racial discrimination as a legal one. He believed that in order for permanent change to be established, legislation would need to be passed detailing in writing the rights of African Americans and all non-white American citizens. His fellow activist Malcom X believed that this way of approaching change was hopelessly ineffective and that change could only be achieved through violence and scaring whites into respecting their fellow countrymen. Martin not only spoke to African American’s suffering under unequal treatment, he also appealed to the white moderate. A fairly significant population of American whites that did not harbor any racist sentiments but were also not in any rush to change the status quo in which they themselves were thriving. Martin recognized this population could be the agents of real change, if the civil rights movement could win over the white moderate than without a doubt legislation would be passed in Washington.This is probably this reason that Martin would adopt a strategy of nonviolent resistance. This peaceful strategy could however be a result of Martin’s relatively privileged upbringing. The third and final component of Bitzer’s method, the constraints represent persons, places, events or relations that would limit decisions or actions. Martin’s relatively wealthy middle class Christian upbringing, his college education and southern background all contribute to his non violent beliefs. Interestingly, despite being born in the south Martin did not experience a large amount of prejudice as an adolescent. This stands in sharp contrast to the upbringing of Malcom X, who from a very early age learned to not only fear but hate white society. I believe this is the primary reason for Malcom’s radical ideas in contrast to Martins largely by the book more rational approach. In Malcom’s “speech at the Oxford Union” the foundations of his platform are laid out and justified in plain speech. In Bitzerian terms his exigence was the same as Martin Luther King: end the age of Jim Crowe and usher in an era of equality and African American flourishment. Now Malcom spoke only to the African American community, excluding all whites from his leadership even the white moderate. The reason I believe lies in what Bitzer called constraints. While Martin was sitting in the comfy classrooms of Morehouse college Malcom was also getting an education just at a prison rather than a prestigious university. And whats even worse is prison probably seemed like a step up from the life Malcom had led previously. It was rumored that his father was murdered by a white mob although no one was ever brought to justice. And that was only the beginning, after his mother had a nervous breakdown a young Malcom moved to Harlem where he engaged in drug dealing, robbery, pimping and occasionally had sex with other men out of desperation for money. In 1946 he was finally apprehended at sent to the same prison where a fellow convict John Bembry was serving his time. Malcom would later describe Bembry as “the first man I had ever seen command total respect with words” it would be under Bembry’s guidance that Malcom would develop his passion for reading. Also during prison Malcom would discover the Nation of Islam, a new religious movement that he was soon to become a significant part of. So it can be seen that Malcom’s time spent in prison was the most productive of his entire life. It was in prison that he learned to channel the anger he felt toward whites into cohesive arguments and the courage to make his voice heard. Although his primary audience was American blacks, in his speech to the Oxford student union his audience was composed mainly of white college students who weren't even from The United States. So he had to both explain his position and appeal to a non-American non black audience, a unique challenge that certainly impacted the rhetoric he selected for the task. He begins by immediately attacking phrases commonly used by Martin such as “love thy enemy” and “nonviolence” and promoting phrases central to his platform such as “by any means necessary” this he follows up with a few statistics but in general opens his speech with a strong statement of where he stands on the issue at hand. Next Malcom begins to throw around the term “racialist” a frankly odd word choice that leaves many viewers in this generation puzzled. What is more important is that Maclmom deliberlaty pronounces “racialist” instead of just “racist”, he is making a distinction between the two. While racism can negatively affect many aspects of society, to be a racialist is particularly deplorable as your prejudice influences your beliefs and actions regarding policy. Malcom continues to point out the hopelessness of attempting to pass legislation, and then asserts that “black people in that country where I'm from are lives are not worth two cents” a powerful decree that displays Malcom’s disconnection with American society. In his mind, although he from America he does not identify as an American.
This has the effect of casting shame on the American legal and social structure, that a man born and raised in the US would be so alienated that he would disown himself from his native cultural identity speaks volumes of the problems that nation faces. Malcom follows this up with a statement of his thesis giving the famous “by any means necessary” remark and clearly stating his primary beliefs. Later on in his speech Malcom begins to paint a picture for his audience of the horrors racism can produce, vividly depicting the many types of police brutality protesters faced. Further driving home the point that enough is enough, his people need to stand up for themselves and end the suffering. But it is in his next line that Malcom clearly states what I believe is ultimately why he was eclipsed by Martin Luther King. He says “when one is moderate in the pursuit of justice….than he is a sinner” disregarding his use of historical figures to bolster his argument in favor of extremism we are left with the statement that moderation is not only ineffective but immoral. Now placing aside the high value Christians place on human life for Malcom was a muslim, it is difficult to agree with his contention as extremism would destroy any potential support from the white moderate. In other words it takes moderation to win the hearts and minds of the white moderate. And without the white moderate, no change can every
truly be made. So in conclusion Malcom’s failure to adhere to the concept of Rhetorical situation; his failure to let the situation dictate his rhetoric is the primary reason that his ideas never carried as much influence as Martin’s and the reason that MLK day is a federal holiday while history has largely forgotten the great orator and patriot of equality Malcom X.