Question

In 3–5 complete sentences, thoroughly explain how Dr. King develops the claim that racial injustices must be uncovered to be healed. Which sentences support the claim? Provide at least two specific examples from the text to show how the claim is developed and supported.

Answer 1

Answer:

Dr. King compares social injustices to a boil full of pus that needs light and air to be healed rather than be hidden or wound up. He also stressed the need to act now, for time is of the essence in bringing about a solution to such injustices before it breaks loose and affect everyone.

Explanation:

In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote how his critics have sought to question his very actions of allowing and even leading the revolts that led to so many violence. But more than that, he also readdresses the need to look into the issue of injustice and look for a solution rather than 'brush it under the carpet' and let it fester.

Comparing racial injustice as something like pus that gets worse if hidden, he reiterates the need to bring issues up for discussion and looking for a solution together. He also directly states that the protesters are not agents of tension, but rather, they are agents that help bring to light the social injustices that fester hidden so that a solution may be found in "the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion". Such injustices are "Like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light". If not exposed, they fester and hide behind "dangerously structured dams" that are the laws that block the flow of justice as it should be.

And this accumulation will only lead to a disastrous outburst which will destroy everything in its path. But if it is dealt with in time, it will not only prevent the outbreak but will lead to more peaceful results. As he says, "We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right", time plays an essential role in the solution.