Analysis of Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail “Letter from a Birmingham Jail’ was written by Martin Luther King in the year 1963. [1. (Specific problems not mentioned.). Three Essays on Religion. Issue: whether or not public civil rights demonstrations should continue. [Answer to the charge that they should have negotiated instead of engaging in direct action], You may well ask: “Why direct action? In the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King responds to a public statement made by eight white clergymen while he was arrested for engaging in violent public demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. They will be the young high school and college students, the 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’ sake. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny. It's been 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr., began writing his famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail," a response to white Alabama clergymen … 1. Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It prompted the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Statement by Alabama Clergymen I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. ! Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible “devil.”, [3. Small in number, they were big in commitment. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail legitimized him and his cause through ethos, pathos, and logos. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. I am here because I have organizational ties here. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. The Eight White Clergymen who wrote “A Call for Unity,” an open letter that criticized the Birmingham protests, are the implied readers of King ’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” King refers to them as “My Dear Fellow Clergymen,” and later on as “my Christian and Jewish brothers.” The letter stated his thoughts and opinions on the racial tension between the white and the black communities of Alabama. I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. We expressed understanding that honest convictions in racial matters could properly be pursued in the courts, but urged that decisions of those courts should in the meantime be peacefully obeyed. .”, [The question is: what kind of extremist will one be?]. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as “rabble rousers” and “outside agitators” those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies–a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. ALABAMA CLERGYMEN'S LETTER TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ALABAMA CLERGYMEN'S LETTER TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. [THE FOLLOWING IS A VERBATIM COPY OF THE PUBLIC STATEMENT DIRECTED TO MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BY EIGHT ALABAMA CLERGYMEN, WHICH OCCASIONED HIS REPLY.] Poll: What grounds objective moral truth? In this sense they have conducted themselves rather “nonviolently” in public. Never before have I written so long a letter. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. Collection of facts to determine if injustice exists]. I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter to 8 white church leaders, written from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides—and try to understand why he must do so. A bit of a different take. Martin Luther King Jr. to delay civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham. We do not believe that these days of new hope are days when extreme measures are justified in Birmingham. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as “dirty nigger-lovers.” Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful “action” antidotes to combat the disease of segregation. Spell. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. In For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Gravity. His letter was in response tos eight white clergymen, who objected to King protesting in Birmingham. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama [Mother Pollard], who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: “My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest.”. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an “I it” relationship for an “I thou” relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. As T. S. Eliot has said: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”, [Where is the commendation for the peaceful protester?]. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Some—such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle—have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. ), 7 Ways to Kill the Thanksgiving Impulse in Your Life. Some have asked: “Why didn’t you give the new city administration time to act?”. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I had hoped that each of you would understand. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law. I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. And we believe this kind of facing of issues can best be accomplished by citizens of our own metropolitan area, white and Negro, meeting with their knowledge and experience of the local situation. yes. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?”, The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. While sitting in jail he received a letter from 8 white clergymen stating that his methods were unwise and untimely. Fifty years ago today, April 12, 1963, eight clergy wrote a letter urging the Rev. And now this approach is being termed extremist. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his letter in response to the eight clergymen of the White Church of the South. Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? There were eight signees: Two Episcopalians and two Methodists, along with a Roman Catholic, a Jew, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, and a Baptist. Fifty years ago today, April 12, 1963, eight clergy wrote a letter urging the Rev. [Remembering a time when the church was powerful]. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. . The letter was in response to concerns brought forth in a public statement by eight white religious leaders of the South. Please make sure all fields are filled out. In the spring 1963, Martin Luther King was jailed due to his non-violent demonstrations against racial segregation at Birmingham. Match. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. All of us need to face that responsibility and find proper channels for its accomplishment. April 12, 1963 line 1 We the undersigned clergymen are among those who, in January, issued "an appeal for law and order and common sense," in dealing with racial problems in Alabama. [Coming to Birmingham with hope, only to be disappointed]. The issue:  Should public civil rights demonstrations should continue? (It should be noted that Billy Graham shared their views at the time.). Alabama Clergymen. 6!!!! Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust. Analysis of Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. They were in basic agreement with King that segregation should end. Who is their God? 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