Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. Either as a class or in smaller groups have students read and answer the analysis questions for the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Martin Luther King Jr. in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and the prisoners in “The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” both followed a higher moral law combined with the universal values of unity, equality, and justice to fight for change in the midst of unjust tradition. 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. That would lead to anarchy. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Since that time there had been some evidence of increased forbearance and a willingness to face facts. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid. 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. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. However, we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Letter from Birmingham City Jail Latest answer posted July 26, 2019 at 12:21:29 AM Describe the four basic steps for a nonviolent campaign as outlined by King in "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. Martin Luther King Jr.’S Persuasion in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” 1569 Words | 7 Pages. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the “do nothingism” of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. It has a negative connotation, suggesting violent destruction and conflict. We agree rather with certain local Negro leadership which has called for honest and open negotiation of racial issues in our area. ), [King’s circumstances, and the white clergy’s charges that led to this response], While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.”, [Why King does not usually answer criticism]. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. 100. 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?]. I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: “Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother.”. [Why King is in Birmingham (he lives in Memphis, 250 miles away)], I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against “outsiders coming in.”. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene “Bull” Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. You can follow him on Twitter. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," why is King disappointed in the white church? Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”, Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”, Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”, Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.”, And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.”, And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.”, And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . A Conversation with Tim Keller: On Cancer, Book Recommendations, Celebrity, and the Reformed Resurgence, A Great Way to Help Your Family Hide God’s Word in Their Heart, Promises (feat. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. Answers: 1 Show answers Another question on English. Assessment: Letter from Birmingham Jail Students read excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and analyze the use of rhetorical tools for adding power. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Collection of facts to determine if injustice exists]. Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood. I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. This is how Dr. King addressed this subject in his letter in Birmingham: "Shallow understanding of people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding of people of goodwill." We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and common sense. Depending on the level of your students, you may choose from two versions of the letter with analysis questions. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. ), Quiet Subversion After a Chaotic Election. Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? The negative words "degrades," "distort," and "damages" are used to intensify the negative emotion that unjust laws create. Asked by Shante J #1064193 on 10/22/2020 4:57 AM Last updated by Aslan on 10/23/2020 4:27 AM Answers 1 Add Yours. We decided to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers? Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.”‘ But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. [Gratitude for those white brothers in the South who have helped]. Which statement best describes the connotative meaning of the word catapulted? 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. King writes his letter from jail, as he and other African Americans have been arrested for protesting the segregation policies and overt racism in Birmingham; those protests violated an injunction on parading, … As explored by S. Jonathan Bass, Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders, and the “Letters from Birmingham Jail” (LSU Press, 2001), some of these clergy labored for racial justice and were stung by King’s public criticism, never able to live it down as they were immortalized as literally a “textbook example” of those on the wrong side of history. 117 times. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of “somebodiness” that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. 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. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. [Answer to the charge that they should have negotiated instead of engaging in direct action], You may well ask: “Why direct action? We recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. [2. I had hoped that each of you would understand. They urged the use of negotiations and the legal system rather than public protests. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. Copyright © 2021 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. This lesson examines the power of nonviolent direct actions as an instrument to change unjust laws. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Letter From Birmingham Jail’ “We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.” [Answer to the charge that they didn’t give the new city administration time to act], One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Joe L Barnes & Naomi Raine). But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Justin Taylor is executive vice president for book publishing and publisher for books at Crossway. So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. [Answer to the myth that time will inevitably cure all social ills]. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping “order” and “preventing violence.”. They will stay the way they are. The letter is largely written to explain to the public that civil disobedience and peaceful protest is an appropriate action to counter act the discrimination that African Americans have faced under the law. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. 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. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.”. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he and others were protesting the unjust treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. [Answer to the charge that their activity is extreme]. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets. You spoke of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. Just as we formerly pointed out that “hatred and violence have no sanction in our religious and political traditions,” we also point out that such actions as incite to hatred and violence, however technically peaceful those actions may be, have not contributed to the resolution of our local problems. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. Three of them were in their forties; three in their fifties; one in his sixties; and one who was seventy. 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.
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