Therefore, King takes the opportunity to touch on some indisputable facts and bides his time. As an effective manipulator of language, however, King manages to communicate the evils of segregation through his tone of anger and scorn, while still massaging the egos of the clergymen. He states that Birmingham has an "ugly record of brutality" and there is "grossly unjust" treatment of Negroes in the courts. Through these descriptions, as well as the images of "unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches" with which King fills the mind of his reader, he justifies the attempts made by the Negroes to resolve racial problems in Birmingham.
King then illustrates the consistent close-minded refusal of Birmingham's white community to "engage in good-faith negotiation." King cites an anecdote to show the futility of negotiations in discussing how the Negroes were "victims of a broken promise." King and his followers had compromised with the local merchants, vowing to discontinue demonstrations- so long as the merchants removed slanderous and humiliating "racial signs" from their store windows. When only a few merchants complied with this agreement (and even those only removed the signs temporarily) the Negroes "had no alternative except to prepare for direct action." King emphasizes that this direct-action was an idea born strictly of necessity: ".our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us." With the use of the words "blasted" and "shadow," King establishes a tone of desperation- clearly, the Negroes were not eager to take this step- circumstances had left them with no choice other than nonviolent demonstration. This concept is further emphasized when King includes an account of the Negroes" decision to undergo a process of self-purification preceding the demonstrations, indicating that they were not protesting as a result of bloodthirstiness or revenge.