Vote or Die
...ble to vote, “[...]all men will live together as brothers[...]” (56). Dr. King’s speech also gives praise to the Southern Christian Leadership Organization, a prominent civil rights organization, in his speech. His use of these rhetorical devices illustrates his main points of the speech: allowing the black community to vote would be in the best interest of the nation, the black community will never be satisfied with their current situation, and, blacks will fight for their rights at any costs. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, Give Us the Ballot, is eerily prophetic. He discusses how the ongoing fight for freedom may “[...] cause restless nights sometimes. It might cause losing a job; it will cause suffering and sacrifice. (That’s right) It might even cause physical death for some.” (55) This statement is ironic for the obvious reason that freeing others from psychological death ultimately caused King’s physical death. This idea of Christian suffering and martyrdom is apparent throughout the speech. Martin Luther King calls all members of the black and white community to understand that “[...] nothing can be more Christian” than “free[ing] their children from a permanent life of psychological death” (55). King warns the audience about the possibility of paying the ultimate sacrifice for the ultimate freedom. The most obvious and most poignant rhetorical device that King uses is anaphora. He basically states that if blacks were freer to vote, the nation would be in a better state than it is now. The one sentence that sums this gigantic idea up reads “Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights” (48). If the government didn’t have to worry about and fuss with all of the conflicts that came about as a result of the blacks’ civil disobedience, the nation could be more concerned with more important issues. All ...