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Critical Thinking Analysis of Martin Luther King's Speech, "I Have a Dream"

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CRITICAL THINKING ANALYSIS OF
MARTIN LUTHER KING’S SPEECH, “I HAVE A DREAM”

Martin Luther King uses a strong approach to deliver a speech full of encouragement and motivation for the deprived freedom of blacks living in American in the mid-1900s. With a recording break crowd in attendance in Washington in August 1986, Martin Luther King expresses the experienced suffering and demand for change in the lives of blacks. His purpose is clear and without hesitation. As I listener, I felt his passion that was supported by his appropriate boundaries to live equally. With the limitations and challenges King faced during that time, I can understand why his speech is a significant milestone in our country’s history. King makes the listener understand that his purpose is to fairly achieve the long overdue equality blacks have been robbed of. He is clear in his mission and has no intentions of entertaining such an mission with wrong doings or harm. I can only imagine, while during this time in American history the blacks had lived with so much oppression and discrimination, how challenging it would have been to approach such freedom with proper actions. Although King is trying to gain something in his speech, he is not driven by a selfish motive. He distinctly states his purpose and strategizes on the actions needed. At the end of his speech, I ask myself, “Do I agree with the necessity of blacks’ freedom?”. King presents his speech in a manner that is realistic, future oriented, and justified. He focuses on the future of blacks’ freedom in American, rather than the harshness that has taken place prior. His strong ability to lead prevails in his speech, with a confidence that is supported with his statements of facts. I like that he uses a lot of repetition to make strong points, such as his famous words of “I have a dream…”. He obviously believes undoubtedly and whole-heartedly that blacks have been neglected and taken advantage of with regards to their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His reasoning is sustained by real-life experiences and obvious trials in which the blacks battled every day. I like that King also alludes to Biblical scripture references in his lecture. For example, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred...”, which alludes to Jeremiah 2:13 “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.“ His references such as this make me experience a way of thinking that is unbiased or showing of favoritism. I enter into this position only because of clear reasoning and with rightful assumptions. I applaud King with his intellectual standards, especially for the time. His speech was given with clarity, accuracy, relevance, depth, logic and in fairness. Most people in attendance, of black race, would likely agree although they lived this crisis personally. Regardless, the goal of King’s speech was to persuade all to support racial equality, and I was persuaded. He confidently delivered his address with the absence of a narrow mind and without partiality. I admire his courage that must have existed to approach such a topic without anger or bitterness. His purpose was built on a strong foundation and supported with scripture, hard evidence and patriotic references. King was accomplished and successful with his purpose, agenda and outcome.

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