On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers were arrested and jailed for demonstrating against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. On that same day, eight prominent white Alabama clergymen wrote a statement that was published in the local newspaper in which they portrayed Dr. King as an outside agitator whose actions incite hatred and violence and as a result, urged the African American citizens of Birmingham to withdraw their support for the demonstrations and instead rely on the courts and negotiation the achieve change. Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” is not simply a response to this criticism, but it also serves to awaken the conscience of America to the injustice and marginalization suffered
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King then criticizes the clergymen’s condemnation of the demonstrations and their failure to express equal condemnation for the “conditions that brought about the demonstrations into being” (King 4). He compares this to a “superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes” (King 4). He also rejects the idea that patient negotiation with political leaders would be a more suitable approach to achieve an end to the injustices imposed on African Americans by segregation and racial inequality. He reveals that his group has explored four basic steps in its non-violent campaign. First, the collection of facts to determine whether injustices exists. Second, engaging in negotiations with politicians and merchants. Third, self-purification workshops to maintain a non-retaliatory attitude in the face of violence. Lastly, direct action, which includes sit ins and demonstrations. Dr. King acknowledges his awareness that direct action disrupts the community, but contends that this disruption is precisely what is needed to force the leaders in the community to come to the negotiating table. He expresses that African Americans “know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 5). He also expresses that African Americans have grown impatient with waiting for a more convenient or suitable time for the community to negotiate and to address their …show more content…
Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection (King 8).
The text is important because it reveals the struggles that African Americans face in the south and the adversities that they endure in order to achieve desegregation, equality, and human dignity. African Americans continue to be unjustly denied equal rights by the white numerical and power majority who resolve to maintain the status quo by means of disenfranchisement, intimidation, and violence. The text illustrates the justification of using non-violent demonstrations as a political tool to force societal
King then criticizes the clergymen’s condemnation of the demonstrations and their failure to express equal condemnation for the “conditions that brought about the demonstrations into being” (King 4). He compares this to a “superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes” (King 4). He also rejects the idea that patient negotiation with political leaders would be a more suitable approach to achieve an end to the injustices imposed on African Americans by segregation and racial inequality. He reveals that his group has explored four basic steps in its non-violent campaign. First, the collection of facts to determine whether injustices exists. Second, engaging in negotiations with politicians and merchants. Third, self-purification workshops to maintain a non-retaliatory attitude in the face of violence. Lastly, direct action, which includes sit ins and demonstrations. Dr. King acknowledges his awareness that direct action disrupts the community, but contends that this disruption is precisely what is needed to force the leaders in the community to come to the negotiating table. He expresses that African Americans “know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 5). He also expresses that African Americans have grown impatient with waiting for a more convenient or suitable time for the community to negotiate and to address their …show more content…
Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection (King 8).
The text is important because it reveals the struggles that African Americans face in the south and the adversities that they endure in order to achieve desegregation, equality, and human dignity. African Americans continue to be unjustly denied equal rights by the white numerical and power majority who resolve to maintain the status quo by means of disenfranchisement, intimidation, and violence. The text illustrates the justification of using non-violent demonstrations as a political tool to force societal