Reference for part 2

Letter from a Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King Jr. 1. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was "well timed" according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "wait." It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This "wait" has almost always meant "never." It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration. We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and- buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. King, M.L. (1963)

2. I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say "wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television; ... when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored... when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodyness" -- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. King, M.L. (1963) 3. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it. Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the Germans call the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America, and the Caribbean, he is moving with a sense of cosmic urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. Recognizing this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand public demonstrations. The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations. He has to get them out. So let him march sometime; let him have his prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; understand why he must have sit-ins and freedom rides. If his repressed emotions do not come out in these nonviolent ways, they will come out in ominous expressions of violence. This is not a threat; it is a fact of history. So I have not said to my people, "Get rid of your discontent." But I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled through the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. Now this approach is being dismissed as extremist. King, M.L. (1963) 4. I wish you had commended the Negro demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer, and their amazing discipline in the midst of the most inhuman provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, courageously and with a majestic sense of purpose facing jeering and hostile mobs and the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman of Montgomery,

Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride the segregated buses, and responded to one who inquired about her tiredness with ungrammatical profundity, "My feets is tired, but my soul is rested." They will be young high school and college students, young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience's sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream and the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage. King, M.L. (1963)

Part 1: Introduction, Case Study, and Ethical Question (please explain thoroughly)

In this section, you will create the case study. To make whole this section,

• Present a brief introduction to the case study.
• Discuss background information.
• Identify the central moral controversy at stake in the case study.
• Articulate an ethical question based on the central moral controversy.

Part 2: Philosophy Reading Reflection (please explain thoroughly)

In Sections 4 and 5 you will use two ethical theories to analyze your case study. In this section, you will choose a philosophical text associated with one of the ethical theories you will be using in Section 4 or 5. The philosophical text can be the same one you used in the Week 3 written assignment, or you can choose a new text. Copy and paste the text into this section. After applying the metacognitive strategies on reading philosophical texts from Week 1,

Examine the meaning of the text.

• Discuss how your understanding of the text evolved after multiple reads.
• Explain how the text might apply to the case study.

Part 3: Explanation of First Ethical Theory (please explain thoroughly)

In this section, choose either utilitarianism, deontology, or virtue ethics. This will be the primary or first ethical theory you will use to consider the case study. You can choose the same ethical theory you used in the Week 3 written assignment or choose a different ethical theory. To make whole this section,

• Discuss the historical background of the ethical theory and the philosopher primarily associated with it.
• Articulate the core principle(s) of the ethical theory.
• Demonstrate how the principle(s) applies to an ethical question different than the ethical question in your case study.

Part 4: Application of First Ethical Theory (please explain thoroughly)

In this section, you will apply the principle(s) of the ethical theory to the case study. To make whole this section,

• Clarify the central moral controversy at stake in the ethical question.
• Analyze the core principle of the ethical theory.
• Explain how someone using the core principles of the ethical theory would answer the ethical question addressed by your case.

Part 5: Explanation and Application of Second Ethical Theory (please explain thoroughly)

In this section, you will choose a second ethical theory and apply it to the case study. The explanation and application here will be briefer than the first ethical theory. To make whole this section,

• Discuss the core principle of the ethical theory.
• Explain how someone using the core principles of the ethical theory would analyze the case study and answer the ethical question.

Part 6: Evaluation of First Ethical Theory Application (please explain thoroughly)

In this section, you will evaluate the results of applying the ethical theory to the case study. The idea here is to assess the success (or failure) of the theory in providing an adequate or actionable solution to the central moral controversy in the case study. To make whole this section,

• Discuss the answer to the ethical question provided by applying the first ethical theory.
• Compare the answer to the ethical question provided by applying the first ethical theory to the second ethical theory's application.
• Explain which ethical theory you think offers the strongest resolution to the ethical issue.
• Evaluate the strength of the application by considering one or more of the following questions:
  • Does applying the theory present an adequate response to the issue, or are there significant aspects of the issue the theory does not address?
  • Does the application differ from how the issue is currently being addressed?
  • Does the application present a better approach to how the issue is currently being addressed?
  • Does applying the theory to the issue raise other problems or concerns?

Part 7 Conclusion (please explain thoroughly)

In this section, you will describe what you have accomplished in the paper. To make whole this section,

• Summarize the analyses and conclusions of applying the first and second ethical theories to your case study.
• Evaluate the results of applying the theory
  • Did it offer an adequate solution to the issue?
  • What is the greatest strength or weakness of the theory when applied to the issue?
• Provide any additional recommendations you think might help address the central moral controversy in the case study.