3.+Justice

JUSTICE

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, I have a Dream, speaks frequently about the justice that the constitution guarantees to all men and the injustice placed upon the black community. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech begins with the discussion of the injustice done toward the African American community. The first metaphor that Martin Luther King Jr. uses to describe the injustice is, **“…the light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.”** Martin Luther King uses the image fire to symbolize destruction and that their exposure to fire is a form of torture. Other metaphors that Martin Luther King Jr. uses to inspire a negative feeling in the injustice are, **“We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”** An issue for former slaves was gaining proper wages and by using this metaphor Martin Luther King Jr. does not only fester the feelings of the days back in slavery when they were refused wages but also that the just claims that they made were not able to be satisfied.

Later in Martin Luther King’s speech he goes into detail about the grievances that have been inflicted about the African American Community. This paragraph uses repetition to stress the phrases, “we will not be satisfied.” The phrase is repeated several times to constantly tie back in the grievances with the topic. It constantly reminds the listener what all these grievances have affected and that there will be unrest and dissatisfaction with the people of the nation until the rights of the American citizens are granted to ALL men. Martin Luther King’s syntax also depicts his attitude towards the injustice. Shorter sentences that are slightly abrupt show that there is no way to mask the issue of oppression and the injustice placed upon the black community.
 * “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.”**

Justice on the other hand is exposed in a completely different light in Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech. Justice to the African American community is seen as the moral principle determining just conduct and the conformity to this principle as manifested in conduct; treatment. The beginning of the speech speaks of the harsh reality of injustice but as the speech progresses justice is spoken of as an almost a holy virtue. The first metaphor used to depict justice is, **“… to the sunlit path of racial justice.”** To be sunlit is to be illuminated or revealed by a heavenly body or star. The phrase has ties to religion but the idea that justice needs to be illuminated or to come into focus is a key idea presented by the metaphor. If justice is brought up as a main focus it will be apparent that there has truly been no justice for African Americans. A second metaphor used by Martin Luther King to describe justice is, **“… Be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”** This metaphor uses the key word of oasis, which is something serving as a refuge, relief, or pleasant change from what is usual, annoying or difficult. This is an emotional word because for as long as Africans have been in the United States they have been oppressed by whites. Now they seek to find justice that would be a change in the treatment of African Americans. The idea of an oasis can also be tie back to biblical texts where the recently freed slaves of Egypt walked in the desert for hundreds of years seeking their oasis. Like African Americans though there desert may not be as plain as hot temperatures and sandy terrain but like a desert their journey lacked justice which was something they felt was a civil right.