Martin Luther King wrote a letter to eight white clergymen in response to their criticism of him and how he organized and participated in the protest march against segregation in Birmingham. King tried to defend himself from the accusations in this criticism with A Letter From the Birmingham Jail.
In the first line of the letter King denounces their accusation of him being an outsider in Birmingham. He states that he was invited and had organizational ties because he was the president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Moreover, King did not consider himself an outsider because he argued that anyone who lives in the United States could not be described as an outsider.
In response to the accusation made that his demonstrations were untimely, he gave them several reasons why it was the appropriate time. Initially, merchants did not remove humiliating racial signs from their stores. The demonstrations took place over the Easter holiday because it was the second biggest shopping day in the year so as to put more pressure on the merchants. He tells them that the date was postponed several times because of elections. Finally, King says that "negroes" have been waiting for this moment for more than 340 years and that it was more than enough time to wait.
In the first line of the letter King denounces their accusation of him being an outsider in Birmingham. He states that he was invited and had organizational ties because he was the president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Moreover, King did not consider himself an outsider because he argued that anyone who lives in the United States could not be described as an outsider.
In response to the accusation made that his demonstrations were untimely, he gave them several reasons why it was the appropriate time. Initially, merchants did not remove humiliating racial signs from their stores. The demonstrations took place over the Easter holiday because it was the second biggest shopping day in the year so as to put more pressure on the merchants. He tells them that the date was postponed several times because of elections. Finally, King says that "negroes" have been waiting for this moment for more than 340 years and that it was more than enough time to wait.
The next accusation King confronts is being a law breaker. I response to this allegation, King describes his own perspective about just and unjust laws. He says an unjust law is a law made by humans and does not have anything to do with natural and eternal law. King was sure that the segregation law was unjust so he thought people needed to disobey it, albeit peacefully.
King was also labeled as an extremist but responded that he stood between the opposing parties on his side: those who espoused violence and those who had assimilated themselves to segregation in Birmingham. In the second part of his letter he showed his disappointment in the church for criticizing them and of their failure to support them. He ends the letter by asking forgiveness for any inaccuracies and hopes that racial prejudice will soon end.
Overall, I believe Martin Luther King was greatly offended by their letter, enough so that he in a manner unlike he normally did. His response, although strong, still managed to sound polite and to have come from a well-educated man.
No comments:
Post a Comment