Letter from Birmingham Jail

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Thesis Statement

According to the King, church is one of the most important assets needed behind the civil rights movement.

Introduction

Martin Luther King wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in 1963, while being arrested for non-permitted parading in a protest against racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. In the letter, the biggest amount of criticism was addressed to the fellow clergymen and the Church that did not perceive the issue as an urgent one. I believe that one of the most significant issues King raises is the problem of indifference of the white Americans towards racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. In my essay I will look at different ways that King used to address this issue.

Firstly, he justifies the right choice of place and time for the protests. "But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here." This introduces us into his basic argument: the racial segregation is injustice. As simple as it might seem to us nowadays, it may have not been equally clear to middle class American in 1960's. Injustice moved Martin Luther King to act against it, just as it should have moved any other American citizen.

He indirectly sets himself as an example. "I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." I believe that such a statement might have been very provocative to the white middle class newspaper reader in 1960s. It showed him his own indifference towards the issue. Even if he has always considered himself an anti-segregationist, he doubts his previous determination after reading the first paragraphs of the "Letter from the Birmingham Jail". He realizes that - yes; indeed, he did sit idly at home. Martin L. King wants to reveal this as a fact.

King's justification to the eight clergymen for protesting segregation begins with a profound explanation of their actions, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”. The actions of the African American people are overdue and very well planned as King had explained in the letter. Their quest was to force the white politicians to negotiate and actually heed the requests for desegregation. As King explains, “past promises have been broken by the politicians and merchants of Birmingham and now is the time to fulfill the natural right of all people to be treated equal”. Violence is not what King wants, he simply wants unjust laws to change and the Supreme Courts 1954 ruling to be upheld. Secondly, King's answer to the clergymen's assertion that breaking the law is not the way to achieve the results the African American is looking for. “Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

Analysis

King shows that negotiations do not make sense unless both of the sides are equally interested in solving the ...