Cai 1

Erwin Cai
Mrs. Thompson
AP Lang, Block 2, Skinny B
29 March 2015
Second Draft: Argument Essay
Although Kings claim is mostly valid, it has minor inherent flaws in reasoning. The
validity of the claim is evident in reconstruction era America and in personal experiences
growing up with my sister. However, Kings group-over-individual reasoning presents
complexities.
During reconstruction, millions of newly freed blacks were in dire need of jobs,
education, and, most importantly to them, rights. Yet, the southerners fought viciously against
acquisition of such privileges. There were race riots in cities like New Orleans, blacks were
forced into pseudo-slavery by sharecropping and black codes, and blacks still lacked access to
schools and voting. Even some wealthy blacks, afraid of socioeconomic change, fought against
civil rights. In fact, fear of socioeconomic change is what spurred most, even those that fought
with the Union in the Civil War, to stand against improvement of the black condition- people
were afraid of competition for jobs and land. They were unable to share what privileges they had
unless coerced by the government by congressional acts such as those passed during the Johnson
presidency of 1865-1868.
I find more evidence of Kings claim close to home. My older sisters, privileged as the
elders, enjoyed their own rooms and expensive electronics like iPads. Even when I was old
enough to deserve my own bedroom and when they never used their iPods, they refused to allow

Cai 2
me to have either because for me to obtain such privileges would be the same as a loss of
superiority and privilege for my sisters. Only with parental intervention did they ever acquiesce.
While Kings claim rings true, I find his reasoning somewhat flawed. He argues that
individuals may be righteous, but groups often are not, despite the individual opinions. But, are
not groups made of individuals? Despite the questions his point raises, the support may come
from psychology, where there is a principle known as groupthink, which describes how there is
deindividuation in groups, as people work for the good of the group and not themselves.
However, for this principle to work, harmony must take precedence over self-interest, but in
most historical cases, such as that of the Reconstruction era, I see more focus on violence and
self-interest than on harmony, as people were driven by a fear of socioeconomic change. This
combination of factors shows the complexity of Kings argument.
King poses a valid argument: the privileged rarely give up their rights voluntarily. I have
seen such come about in my personal life and in the history of America. However, to say that this
is caused by groups rather than individuals would be inherently flawed, revealing the
complexities of Kings argument.