Compare And Contrast Jackson And Martin Luther King

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Jesse Jackson vs. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

There are three ways to feel towards racism: accept it, hate it or be neutral. However, according to Jesse Jackson in his essay “Jets of Water Blast Civil Rights Demonstrators” and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” there are only two feelings, for it or against it. They both use the acts of oppression in Birmingham to instigate their feelings. The disparity, though, is that Dr. King experienced the oppressive acts first hand, while Jackson gains passion on the incidents from pictures. Jackson and King share a similar side of extreme anti-segregation, but differ in the way acts of oppression affect them and in their views of who holds the power to control …show more content…

The media can distort, delete, emphasize and de-emphasize points at will. Jackson gives credit to the media for inflicting determination in the African American public by the picture illustrated in the essay. Jackson believes that the media has more control than the law making politicians and the police. He considers what the media does affects everyone’s opinion. Therefore the media has an effect on what becomes reality in the future. Dr. King believes God has the majority power in controlling the future. King deems any chance of freedom rides on the will of God and on our nation’s heritage. He trusts that the will of God and the rights in the Constitution are on his side and that freedom will be attained: “We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands” (King). In Jackson’s essay, the will of God is not even mentioned as a factor of aid. In fact, Jackson indirectly downplays the power of God. He points out that God spoke the world into existence, but Jackson’s reaction to this phenomenon is “That’s the power of words” (334). Jackson believes that the will of the demonstrators and the power invested in the media are keys to the doors of equal

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