Oglesby, Nikki: Diversity

From reading A Call for Unity and Letter from a Birmingham Jail, a reader gets a view point from two different sides on a very important issue. I personally agree and and disagree with ideas from both. Each party had put thought into what they were suggesting and had good intentions in mind.
     
The writers of A Call for Unity were rational in asking for issues to be handled by negotiation instead of violent demonstrations. Peaceful negotiation may have been helpful but the progress made would have been far slower. African Americans did not want to wait around any longer. At this point, they had already been without rights for many years. The clergymen were wrong when they failed to put themselves in the shoes of a Black people. If they would have looked at the situation from a different perspective, they would have felt the Blacks were going about it the right way. I believe letting emotions and passions drive their actions was the best thing for them to do. It gave them the power to stand up for themselves and get their voices heard.
     
In reply to A Call for Unity, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail, the letter I favor. Among other topics, the the objections to the demonstrations were addressed. He spoke of how he and his followers had partaken in non-violent demonstrations. It was also pointed out how Blacks had made an attempt to hold peaceful negations with Whites. These negotiation had not gotten the African-American race anywhere because their suggestions and demands were repeatedly denied. Sometimes their ideas were completely ignored. Martin Luther King, Jr. did a great job supporting his claim on why the situation needed to be handled in the manner it was. Change does not happen by itself, someone has to make it happen. Since he was of color, he understood how it felt to lack the rights and equality Whites always had. He believed his people had waited long enough and should not have to wait any longer, and he was right. If African Americans would have shown patience, things would have continued to go along the way they were.
     
Martin Luther King, Jr. also made a great argument directed at highly religious people. While everyone is equal in the eyes of God, skin color making neither race more superior than the other, all people were not give the same rights or freedoms. He believed the churches should not have shared the same attitude as the other Whites. Having the Bible to support him was a big deal. It sure made some rethink matters.
     
Even though A Call for Unity and Letter from Birmingham Jail held different viewpoints on the same matter, they both made good points. One just had a better understanding of how change need to happen sooner rather than later. Each article succeed in its purpose to make people think.