AuntShecky
01-16-2011, 03:44 PM
Notes on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Yesterday would have been the eighty-second birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and tomorrow Americans will celebrate a federal holiday in his honor. For his monumental work as a dynamic social activist through non-violent means, Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was first and foremost a minister. His deep understanding of and commitment to Christian thought encompassed every positive action he effected in this world.
In recalling all of his worthy accomplishments – such as his inspiring “I Have a Dream” speech and his undeniable influence on American politics and social progress to this day, we should also remember his uniqueness as a thinker – a philosopher, if you will– in his ability to assimilate Christian theology and secular thought into tangible, pragmatic results in the real world. This is not to say that our country has fully achieved racial and economic equality –far from it! Yet much of the progress concerning the rights of minorities and the poor which the country has achieved in the last half century began with the guidance, painful labors, and ultimate sacrifice of Dr. King.
One must also add – and not merely as footnote – that Dr. King was a highly effective writer, simultaneously accessible and elegant. Among his writings, within modern American literature, his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” could –and most assuredly should– be considered exemplary.
Dr. King had led a peaceful demonstration to protest both official and de facto segregation in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, where as a result of his efforts, he had been incarcerated. On April 16, 1963 he wrote his famous letter to his fellow ministers ostensibly as a response to their criticism of Dr. King’s actions as “unwise and untimely.” But in a way, the missive was intended for a much broader audience, his letter to the world, in a way, for Dr. King says he feels “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond his particular hometown”:
I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned with what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow provincial “ outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.
Early in his communication, Dr. King justifies his actions with crystal clear reasoning:
We have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and non-violent pressure. History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their posture; but as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals . . .
[F]reedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
A bit later on in the highly readable letter, Dr. King explains that he would have preferred the path of “negotiation” but had been forced to apply more pressure, through non-violent demonstrations, because the other side had been completely unwilling to negotiate. The letter also includes a beautifully logical explanation on the difference between just and unjust laws and how, regarding the latter, “an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for the law.”
Additionally, the letter addresses two criticisms of Dr. King’s movement at the time. The ministers themselves and so-called “moderate” dignitaries had urged the leaders of the civil rights movement to progress more gradually and incrementally; in response Dr. King cogently explains why the issue was much more urgent, why “we can’t wait.” Toward the end of the letter he expresses his disappointment toward some of his so-called “supporters,” who agreed with Dr. King philosophically but disdained his “methods”–even though these methods were always non-violent (!) Dr. King found these fair-weather friends, who constantly advised waiting for a “more convenient
time,” to be “paternalistic” in their belief that they “can set the timetable for another man’s freedom.” Dr. King admits his disappointment, but the heartbreak between the lines is unmistakable: “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
Dr. King’s efforts to lift a specific class of Americans from oppression alone would be enough to canonize him as a secular saint in our nation’s history. But his broader non-violent credo, rooted in the ideal of Christian love, ultimately defines Dr. King’s message as a significant one for all humankind.
{PLEASE, if you have time, read the entire letter and post your comments.}
Here is the link:
http://www.mlkonline.net/jail.html
Yesterday would have been the eighty-second birthday of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and tomorrow Americans will celebrate a federal holiday in his honor. For his monumental work as a dynamic social activist through non-violent means, Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was first and foremost a minister. His deep understanding of and commitment to Christian thought encompassed every positive action he effected in this world.
In recalling all of his worthy accomplishments – such as his inspiring “I Have a Dream” speech and his undeniable influence on American politics and social progress to this day, we should also remember his uniqueness as a thinker – a philosopher, if you will– in his ability to assimilate Christian theology and secular thought into tangible, pragmatic results in the real world. This is not to say that our country has fully achieved racial and economic equality –far from it! Yet much of the progress concerning the rights of minorities and the poor which the country has achieved in the last half century began with the guidance, painful labors, and ultimate sacrifice of Dr. King.
One must also add – and not merely as footnote – that Dr. King was a highly effective writer, simultaneously accessible and elegant. Among his writings, within modern American literature, his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” could –and most assuredly should– be considered exemplary.
Dr. King had led a peaceful demonstration to protest both official and de facto segregation in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, where as a result of his efforts, he had been incarcerated. On April 16, 1963 he wrote his famous letter to his fellow ministers ostensibly as a response to their criticism of Dr. King’s actions as “unwise and untimely.” But in a way, the missive was intended for a much broader audience, his letter to the world, in a way, for Dr. King says he feels “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond his particular hometown”:
I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned with what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow provincial “ outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.
Early in his communication, Dr. King justifies his actions with crystal clear reasoning:
We have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and non-violent pressure. History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their posture; but as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals . . .
[F]reedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
A bit later on in the highly readable letter, Dr. King explains that he would have preferred the path of “negotiation” but had been forced to apply more pressure, through non-violent demonstrations, because the other side had been completely unwilling to negotiate. The letter also includes a beautifully logical explanation on the difference between just and unjust laws and how, regarding the latter, “an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for the law.”
Additionally, the letter addresses two criticisms of Dr. King’s movement at the time. The ministers themselves and so-called “moderate” dignitaries had urged the leaders of the civil rights movement to progress more gradually and incrementally; in response Dr. King cogently explains why the issue was much more urgent, why “we can’t wait.” Toward the end of the letter he expresses his disappointment toward some of his so-called “supporters,” who agreed with Dr. King philosophically but disdained his “methods”–even though these methods were always non-violent (!) Dr. King found these fair-weather friends, who constantly advised waiting for a “more convenient
time,” to be “paternalistic” in their belief that they “can set the timetable for another man’s freedom.” Dr. King admits his disappointment, but the heartbreak between the lines is unmistakable: “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
Dr. King’s efforts to lift a specific class of Americans from oppression alone would be enough to canonize him as a secular saint in our nation’s history. But his broader non-violent credo, rooted in the ideal of Christian love, ultimately defines Dr. King’s message as a significant one for all humankind.
{PLEASE, if you have time, read the entire letter and post your comments.}
Here is the link:
http://www.mlkonline.net/jail.html