On April 16, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter in response to the eight white fellow clergymen who had accused him of being an outsider and the creator of hatred and violence. But King defended his position as an African American and strongly advocated for racial equality and fought for civil rights of Black people.
King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was a bitter and infuriated letter. King’s letter showed how Black people were treated, jested, jeered at, and even tortured in their daily lives. In the name of religious and political traditions the clergymen asked the African Americans to negotiate about the ongoing violence and the struggle for freedom and equality. They assured themselves that protests were being led by an outsider. King wrote about the purpose of movement for freedom and told them that he was not an outsider with the statement, “you have been influenced by the view which argues against ‘outsiders coming in.’ I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference”
Basically, King argued against racial segregation imposed on Black people with no moral basis, no civil rights, and no freedom for them. Black people had to sleep in their cars all night as there were no motels which accepted them. Further King showed the low position of Black people in the society with the words, “when your first name becomes ‘nigger,’ your middle name becomes ‘boy’ (however old you are) and your last name becomes ‘John,’ and your wife and mother are never given the respected title ‘Mrs’.”
Moreover when those clergymen claimed that King’s actions were unjust and unlawful and that he should be punished for them, then King rebuked those clergymen through a Biblical reference, “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.” King was willing to sacrifice his life for Black people rather than tolerating such hatred and segregation.
If I had been present in those days as a Black person and serving as the slave for the Whites, I would have supported King’s statement. Being Black doesn’t mean that you require separate rooms for sleeping, separate transportation, or even separate toilets.
King inspired people to look beyond themselves and to have empathy for those who suffered from racial inequality and segregation.
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