King says, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". Here King lays out the deep-seeded struggle for civil rights. More importantly King's words transcend racial segregation. What King is saying is that segregation in the South is a failure of American morality, and in turn: An injustice that goes beyond the proverbial Mason-Dixon line. The Clergymen who wrote ""an Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense" asked King why he and his organization choose to stop negotiation and practice civil disobedience. King eloquently responds by making the distinction between an unjust law and one that "uplifts human personality". It's Kings argument, (and at the time the supreme courts decision) that racial segregation is unjust. King goes on to point specific examples of unjust law "A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law", "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself". Here King poi

Considering his situation and setting, he writes almost with a kind of mancipation. "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 and even kill your black brothers and sisters when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society... then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait". In the actual letter King gives many more examples. The important point here is how King's anger, and the way he shows it differs from those of other black leaders like Malcolm X, who said "I think the black people have reached the point where they should reserve the right to do whatever is necessary to exercise complete control over the politicians of their community by whatever means necessary." Malcolm X's words set him and King legions apart. It's important to study what the maker is saying in order to effectively understand him or her and their position in its historical context.

It's also important to note that King had just come off of a major loss in Albany. Dr. King and the SCLC had to worry about losing the momentum they had gained through out the late 1950's and early 1960's. He also took into consideration that it was important for the Birmingham campaign to be successful, otherwise his importance as a leader in the civil rights movement could diminish. King was also worried about the insurgency of Black Nationalists movements across the country. King points out that "..various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil." Factor all of these elements in, and it's easy to sum up the artifacts historical context as "tense".

Gadflies - A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.

When Bob called Robert a deleterious X-Box player, he repudiated the statement immediately by helping him out with the game.

nts out the flaws in the segregationists thinking.

The picture of the WTC will be forever imprinted in the zeitgeist of our culture.

Dr. King also addresses the clergymen's concern of his being a radical extremist and outsider. King (and rightly so) throws the clergymen's words back in their faces. King lists all of history's "great" extremists, he concludes by saying "Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists". King also points out that things could be worse. He worries that "Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare".

King points goes on to say "Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds". Martin Luther King tells us that as Americans, black or white, what we do in one section of society can greatly, if not fundamentally change or corrupt us as a whole. Injustice in the South is justice failed in the United States. This also ties into segregation and integration. King is really saying we can no longer be a nation of two. No longer can we be South and North, Black or White, poor or rich. This concept is what really worried people outside of the proletariat. At the time, what King said was very radical -almost socialist.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2533
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)