But these frames of reference also establish a common ground between both him and the clergymen he addresses, and, more widely, with many other Americans who will read the open letter. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." King points out both in the Bible (the story of Shadrach and the fiery furnace) and in Americas own colonial history (the Boston Tea Party) people have practised a form of civil disobedience, breaking one set of laws because a higher law was at stake. Jefferson, for example, was considered an extremist for arguing, in the opening words to the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal. By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Who is their God? civil rights movement. repetition of direct personalized phrases blended with clear imagery forces his audience to be While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." King likens this to the tension in the individual human mind which Socrates, the great classical philosopher, fostered through his teachings. - is used very effectively in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous essay "Letter from. It sounds really unfair, he was trying to make a point. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. The second example is seen in the way Dr. King skillfully weaves an incredibly relatable Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Terri, Posted 3 years ago. Why sit ins, marches and so forth? It was practiced superbly by 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. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. They are now fully aware, and as such are accountable to use their positions to do something Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago. I am here because I have organizational ties here. Dr. King led non-violent sit We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me. But again I have been disappointed. As the events of the Birmingham Campaign intensified on the city's streets, Martin Luther King, Jr., composed a letter from his prison cell in Birmingham in response to local religious leaders' criticisms of the campaign: "Never before have I written so long a letter. innocent experience of a father, he conveys them in a way that the reader cannot hide behind the For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. But is this a logical assertion? Muslims, Christians, Jews, Blacks, In invoking the "true ekklesia", King was calling on all people of faith, regardless of their religion or racial background, in order to work towards establishing equal rights for all people regardless of their race. . I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/kingweb/popular_requests/frequentdocs/birmingha connect with anyone from any culture. This emotional advance is a direct, response to the extremely passive and separated tone of the clergyman. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. Our first reading on this front was Martin Luther King Jr.'s " Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963). On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. And now, so are you. kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/kingweb/popular_requests/frequentdocs/clergy.pdf. I'm not sure on the specifics of King's arrest, but he was arrested because he was a large, central leader in the nonviolent protest. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. inmates due to religious exercises, something that no man, let alone a priest or rabbi can support Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.". In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants--for example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Dr. King often used repetition and parallel construction to great emotional effect when he spoke. You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Direct link to weyker's post It was written because Dr, Posted 3 years ago. You cannot read Dr. Kings words and stay distanced. Direct link to David Alexander's post You may be confusing the , Posted 3 months ago. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured? They were arguing for a less confrontational approach when trying to rectify the injustices of racism. In King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", he is addressing several clergymen who are criticizing his actions during the protest. In Letter From Birmingham, Martin Luther King Jr. uses repeated words and phrases at the beginning of clauses and sentences, in order to emphasize the importance of the phrase and develop a memorable message. It justifies our treating the sermons - and, by inference, Letter from Birmingham Jail -as an art form. You may well ask: "Why direct action? If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. He contrasts his nonviolent approach with that of other African-American movements in the US, namely the black nationalist movements which view the white man as the devil. seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she cant go to the public amusement with a clear conscience. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." As an advocate for nonviolence, he became known as one of the greatest leaders in history. What did a clergyman do to get arrested? Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. After reading "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", ask your students to do a scavenger hunt using the storyboard creator. The early Christian church was much more prepared to fight for what it believed to be right, but it has grown weak and complacent. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms. This device helps the audience clarify a distinctive difference between the two statements that might be overlooked in another circumstance. King answers each of the clergymens objections in turn, laying out his argument in calm, rational, but rhetorically brilliant prose. Google Classroom. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' King found out about this through a news paper that was smuggled in for him to read. repetition of if you and when you combined with the vivid descriptions Dr. King paints the He called ALL Americans to a better vision of the possibilities of community. Whitesall experience fatherhood. 4 detailing the emotional cause and effect that occur, Dr. King creates a reality that one can almost There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. The clergy did not agree with the boycotts, sit-ins and protests that landed him in jail. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. ." segregated city in America. There, cameras captured the tragic scene of local law enforcement He points out that everything Hitler did in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s was legal, because the Nazis changed the laws to suit their ideology and political aims. Small in number, they were big in commitment. The use of ethos is used right off the bat when he starts his letter. His use of words like ugly and inhumane set the brutal scene of police violence They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. Do we blame a man who is robbed because his possession of wealth led the robber to steal from him? Repetitions help the writer give structure to his arguments and highlight important aspects. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. This is sameness made legal. How does King balance the twin appeals to religion and patriotism throughout "Letter from Birmingham Jail"? King wrote this open letter in April 1963 while he was imprisoned in the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama. Direct link to David Alexander's post He challenged the racist , Posted 2 years ago. I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean? I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. 688-695) is meant to inspire his readers to empath Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? man since the beginning of time and it is still here today. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. Lines 14-43: King provides three different types of reasons in his letter to justify his presence in Birmingham: Organizational reasons, religious or historical reasons, and moral reasons. I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. This letter was written when he was arrested after peacefully protesting about segregation and how the black people didn't agree with the law. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. To preserve the evil system of segregation. We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied. "Letter From Birmingham City Jail" would eventually be translated into more than 40 languages. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. It was written because Dr. King and his organization were receiving criticism from the local clergy in Birmingham. Dr. Kings powerful message is directed by his use of you In both passages, the It is the repetition of skill that determines your status and the . By directly referring to you, again, Dr. King calls out these religious leaders directly for courts. The anaphora "If you were to" (ll. You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. This letter was in response to one written by church leaders in Birmingham condemning the actions of Martin Luther King Jr. and his compatriots. Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." negative effects. Letter from Birmingham Jail is Martin Luther Kings most famous written text, and rivals his most celebrated speech, I Have a Dream, for its political importance and rhetorical power. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. Rhetorical questions Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. step into. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. Why is he there? This simple example from Dr. Kings life is able deeply The Equal Rights Amendment sought and failed to make those acts basically a part of te constitution. Fatherhood is something that transcends time and space. Writing Prompt: Pick a term from the Glossary of Non-violence, pg 99-101. them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. What caused him to go to jail? watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see On the edges of that very newspaper, Dr. King began It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. For that, he was hated, jailed, and eventually murdered. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. When there is no alternative, direct action such as sit-ins and marches can create what King calls a tension which will mean that a community which previously refused to negotiate will be forced to come to the negotiating table. Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. He decides to own the label, and points out that Jesus could be regarded as an extremist because, out of step with the worldview of his time, he championed love of ones enemies. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Allusion Essay. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. Direct link to CHOCOLATE's post Who is Socrates and why d, Posted 3 days ago. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. Direct link to David Alexander's post Socrates was a Greek Phil, Posted a day ago. So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. There are two main frames of reference in the letter. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. King points out that the newly elected mayor of the city, like the previous incumbent, is in favour of racial segregation and thus wishes to preserve the political status quo so far as race is concerned. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. He worked towards the progress of racial equality. Dr. King often used repetition and parallel construction to great emotional effect when he spoke. seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroesif you were to b. How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists. Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. These so-called Fathers, these advocates How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King typically uses repetition in the form of anaphora - repeating the same word (s) at the beginning of consecutive clauses. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Who is Socrates and why does MLKJ keep coming back to him? An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. There is something powerful in looking at this from a fathers not talking to a group; he is talking to you. MLK referred to him because much of what Socrates taught is foundational to Western society. There are lot of ways to teach . clergymen and let them fully experience what is happening in their country. Direct link to Student's post What did the Hungarian re. We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. wrote "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" on April 16, 1963. The "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr. is about the unfair, brutal, and racist treatment the black community has been receiving from white people. We included this long passage to show how this repetition builds and builds (and builds) the emotional case he's making about how the Black community can't possibly wait any longer for justice. King announces that he will respond to their criticisms because he believes they are men of genuine good will. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. look to as moral leaders, attempted to suppress emotion and thus not deal with the pain of others. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare. the conflict on children all become a part of the readers experienceyou cannot hide from it. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. Choose one type of reason and cite an example from these lines. Carpenter, C.C.J., et al. What did a clergyman do to get arrested? Arguing that time is "neutral," Dr. King illustrates the importance of individual action. By putting the issue in terms of something everyone understands, while The purpose of "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is to address and argue each point made by the. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with moral law. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. 3 The two most poignant examples, which I will focus on here, are Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. In paragraph 15 of his "Letter from Birmingham. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. In Letter from Birmingham Jail, King answers some of the criticisms he had received from the clergymen in their statement, and makes the case for nonviolent action to bring about an end to racial segregation in the South. King uses methods such as repetition, anaphora, syntax, and more. This question of what is a just law and what is an unjust law is central to Kings defence of his political approach as laid out in the letter from Birmingham Jail. Yes, these questions are still in my mind. 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