Winters, Clint: Diversity

I've always prided myself on being able to rationally look at any situation, and understand the justification for both sides. That's why I don't claim a political party and why I'm on the fence about everything. There has always one notable exception to my self-professed ability to play the devil's advocate while sitting in the popular camp, and that exception is when people feel superior to others. From the South in the 60s to Germany in the 40s, the superiority complex they seem to cherish is and always has been foreign to me.

          

With that said. I understand where the writers “A Call For Unity”  are coming from. They supported the liberation of Blacks in the South, but didn't like the civil disobedience. A completely understandable viewpoint, but as Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out, the legal system just wouldn't work. The writers of “A Call For Unity” had their hearts in the right place, trying to keep the peace while also giving the oppressed freedom. They were just a bit naive about the fairness of the American justice system.

            

Dr. King's letter provided a nice justification for all of these reasons and more. He explained rather effectively why the legal system wouldn't come through, and why waiting for a more “opportune” time would be impossible and irrational. What struck me as odd about Dr. King's letter, however; was that he simultaneously praised Socrates for challenging the religious dogma of Greek mythology and promoting free thinking, while promoting the equally religious ideals of the Christian church. Keep in mind that I am in no way bashing religion, but to elicit legal change, arguments should never be based in the teachings of a religion. Our government is a secular one, and trying to introduce a law on the basis of a higher power deeming it right is a direct violation of separation of church and state, and any court worth it's salt will catch this overlap and throw out the case. I suppose that it is to be expected, since King was a minister, but religion and law don't mix.

           

Aside from that one quip, I agree with the rest of Dr. King's letter entirely. The government would have been of no help had the activists tried to go the way of the courtroom, and who knows how things would have turned out. Order is all well and good, but if that order comes at the price of oppressing a portion of the populace, then that peace isn't worth anything at all.