Dr. Martin Luther King and The Language of Human Rights

Juana  Sanchez

Final Blog

       In this cluster, we have come across the works and movements of Dr. Martin Luther King and his non –violence theory. We have also studied and dissected the topic of Language of Human Rights and its way of being used. Somewhere along the lines, Dr. Martin Luther King’s theory of non-violence and the topic of the language of human rights come together. Kings theory was about not fighting back, learning to control natural human reflexes, and overall maintaining yourself humble and loving even when your rights are being taken away. But the topic of language is about how one articulates and communicates with others in order to cause understanding, and how someone uses their speech to come across a point. Dr. King was really good at communicating with others and his language of human rights was his non-violence theory. In this blog I will discuss Dr. Martin Luther King’s Non-violence theory and how this theory connects to the topic of language of human rights.

        Besides marching as a form of rising public sentiment, one of Dr. King’s strongest skills was his way of communicating. Whenever he preached or spoke out in public, people listened and cheered for him. He spoke with emphasis and strength in his voice. He knew how to articulate well enough in order to cause someone to pay attention. He was repetitive and precise, backing up his words with facts and pure knowledge. His words were what made people want to follow him in his quest to make the United Sates a just country.  He was an amazing public speaker and that caused his campaigns and marches to carry on. This shows how much language was a big part of Martin Luther King’s movements in the time he lived.

         Another way, in which these two topics come together, is when you talk about Human Rights. Dr. Martin Luther King was a fighter, and his main goal was for African American and colored people to be treated equally in society and to have the privilege of using their human rights in full form. The language of human rights is the kind of language used in order to obtain human rights. This is when you use your speech to obtain your human rights. Dr. King’s “Language” of human rights was his non-violence practice. He communicated with people and got his point across by preaching and giving speeches in order for the public to understand the injustice in the treatment that African Americans were getting.

        The language of human rights works when someone uses words and meaning to fight for their human rights, not using violence, but expressing their feelings, thoughts and ideas through speech. And this is exactly what Martin Luther King did all throughout his movements. There are certain limits to how you use language thought. Language should never be used to harm anyone else, and that’s the exception of our right to freedom of speech. King never hurt anyone with his words, on the contrary, he uplifted people and gave them faith to keep striving and keep fighting to get their human rights.