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Letter from the Birmingham Jail
There is an alternate edition published under ISBN13: 9780241339466.
Martin Luther King, Jr. rarely had time to answer his critics. But on April 16, 1963, he was confined to the Birmingham jail, serving a sentence for participating in civil rights demonstrations. "Alone for days in the dull monotony of a narrow jail cell," King pondered a letter that fellow clergymen had published urging him to drop his campaign of nonviolent resistance and to leave the battle for racial equality to the courts. In response, King drafted his most extensive and forceful written statement against social injustice - a remarkable essay that focused the world's attention on Birmingham and spurred the famous March on Washington. Bristling with the energy and resonance of his great speeches, Letter from the Birmingham Jail is both a compelling defense of nonviolent demonstration and a rallying cry for an end to social discrimination that is just as powerful today as it was more than twenty years ago.
Martin Luther King, Jr. rarely had time to answer his critics. But on April 16, 1963, he was confined to the Birmingham jail, serving a sentence for participating in civil rights demonstrations. "Alone for days in the dull monotony of a narrow jail cell," King pondered a letter that fellow clergymen had published urging him to drop his campaign of nonviolent resistance and to leave the battle for racial equality to the courts. In response, King drafted his most extensive and forceful written statement against social injustice - a remarkable essay that focused the world's attention on Birmingham and spurred the famous March on Washington. Bristling with the energy and resonance of his great speeches, Letter from the Birmingham Jail is both a compelling defense of nonviolent demonstration and a rallying cry for an end to social discrimination that is just as powerful today as it was more than twenty years ago.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published April 16, 1963
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About the author
Martin Luther King Jr.
394books3,372followersMartin Luther King, Jr. was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Here he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.
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February 24, 2025
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
In August 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr was arrested for parading without a permit. This is a letter that he wrote while serving time in the Birmingham Jail.
Dr. King stated that he was invited to Birmingham, and “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.” He describes that he did negotiate with some of the leaders of the economic community, but they broke their promises and left up all of the signs promoting segregation. He also addressed the people who just want more “time to act.” These are the folks who want those who are oppressed to wait. As Dr. King puts it, “This “wait” has almost always meant “never”.” He states that “we have waited more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights.” Dr. King lists many of the injustices suffered by the black community including “when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; 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…”.
Dr. King calls out the white moderate and most white churches for doing nothing. These are the people who know that change should happen, but they don’t want to be inconvenienced. Dr. King states that, “Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” As far as the white church, “all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.”
This is my commitment to the black community: I will read Letter for Birmingham Jail every year. I will not presume to know your suffering and hardship. I will do everything that I can to be part of the solution even if it is inconvenient for me. I will not pretend that everything is fine now.
Dr. King wrote, “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
Connect With Me!
In August 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr was arrested for parading without a permit. This is a letter that he wrote while serving time in the Birmingham Jail.
Dr. King stated that he was invited to Birmingham, and “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.” He describes that he did negotiate with some of the leaders of the economic community, but they broke their promises and left up all of the signs promoting segregation. He also addressed the people who just want more “time to act.” These are the folks who want those who are oppressed to wait. As Dr. King puts it, “This “wait” has almost always meant “never”.” He states that “we have waited more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights.” Dr. King lists many of the injustices suffered by the black community including “when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; 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…”.
Dr. King calls out the white moderate and most white churches for doing nothing. These are the people who know that change should happen, but they don’t want to be inconvenienced. Dr. King states that, “Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” As far as the white church, “all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.”
This is my commitment to the black community: I will read Letter for Birmingham Jail every year. I will not presume to know your suffering and hardship. I will do everything that I can to be part of the solution even if it is inconvenient for me. I will not pretend that everything is fine now.
Dr. King wrote, “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
Connect With Me!
January 19, 2015
A link is provided here for anyone who would like to read this letter:
Wonderful, powerful words. It's crazy to think that over 50 years later the same issues are STILL issues.
"You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails so express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations." <----Now THAT is a point to ponder! It amazes me that those in charge have to be told that. Amazes me and saddens me.
I respect what this man did, not just for African-Americans, but for the world.
January 18, 2015 Edited to add: Following the protests in the States right now in what many are calling the second Civil Rights movement reminds me that there's a lot more work to do. Calling protesters in Ferguson, MO and elsewhere thugs instead of investigating why people feel their only option is to protest is one of the many problems we're dealing with.
Wonderful, powerful words. It's crazy to think that over 50 years later the same issues are STILL issues.
"You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails so express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations." <----Now THAT is a point to ponder! It amazes me that those in charge have to be told that. Amazes me and saddens me.
I respect what this man did, not just for African-Americans, but for the world.
January 18, 2015 Edited to add: Following the protests in the States right now in what many are calling the second Civil Rights movement reminds me that there's a lot more work to do. Calling protesters in Ferguson, MO and elsewhere thugs instead of investigating why people feel their only option is to protest is one of the many problems we're dealing with.
February 10, 2017
Love this picture of MLK smiling!
Until now I had only read the most famous quotes of MLK's but I had never taken the time to read the full text.
To many, along with his "I Have A Dream" speech, this letter represents King's most relevant and impactful public statement, because it came at a crucial time when both he and the Civil Rights Movement were being heavily criticized and facing lots of pressure from both the political left and the right.
The year was 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, one of most segregated cities in the country. A series of marches and sit-ins, known as the "Birmingham Campaign", had been organized by several civil rights organizations.
According to Wikipedia:
"On April 10, Circuit Judge W. A. Jenkins issued a blanket injunction against "parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing." Leaders of the campaign announced they would disobey the ruling. On April 12 (Good Friday), King was roughly arrested with SCLC activist Ralph Abernathy, and other marchers while thousands of African Americans dressed for Good Friday looked on."This open letter was a response to a public statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen while King was still in jail. Even though they agree that racial segregation and the mistreatment of African Americans was unacceptable, they accused MLK of being an extremist and of not having the patience to wait for the courts to sort out these issues.
What struck me the most about this powerful document was King's eloquence and ability to explain why he thought this was the right time to demand these changes.
King is arrested on a charge of "Loitering" in Birminghan
Like Gandhi and Mandela, MLK was passionate and convinced about his cause, but he also had a keen sense of the national political climate and recognized the importance of his commitment to a nonviolent resistance approach. He always knew that the success or failure of this movement hanged in its ability to remain a peaceful one.
It's difficult to believe that many in America considered King and the people involved in the Civil Rights Movement "extremists". Reading this letter you can feel his sense of urgency in explaining to this fellow clergymen - and the nation at large- why he felt that was not a fair criticism.
He explains:
"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it...The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations. He has to get them out. So let him march sometime; let him have his prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; understand why he must have sit-ins and freedom rides. If his repressed emotions do not come out in these nonviolent ways, they will come out in ominous expressions of violence. This is not a threat; it is a fact of history. So I have not said to my people, "Get rid of your discontent." But I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled through the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. Now this approach is being dismissed as extremist. I must admit that I was initially disappointed in being so categorized."
Explaining why it'll never be the "perfect" time to demand changes, he says:
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
MLK mugshot
In response to the criticism on why King's advocated to "break some laws while obeying others", he argues there is a difference between just vs unjust laws:
"Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality."
This is a short but powerful, well articulated document that is now an important part of the civil rights history and a patrimony not only to Americans but to the World.
If you are interesting in reading the full text, you can read it
The audiobook version I listened to, which is narrated by is fantastic. Graham did a great job at recreating MLK's very unique enunciation and oratory style. A few minutes into the audiobook, I thought I was actually listening to Dr. King reading his letter.
This a wonderful way to commemorate Black History Month!
January 17, 2017
This "Birmingham jail" letter by MLK, Jr. and the UN Declaration of Human Rights are the only two "required readings" across all sections of Global Ethics at my college. Today we can recall the now famous lines: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny." The full letter is here: .
I got a MLK, Jr. Award for my anti-racism work with largely "White on White" groups in New Hampshire schools twenty years ago. While the first Black president in the US still a momentous occasion, as Obama prepared to leave the office, I'm afraid we're more racist than less now, with more overt racism than what was covert for many years. Youth, still, seem to be marching us into a post-racial future, but some of us oldsters are getting tired of the wait.
I got a MLK, Jr. Award for my anti-racism work with largely "White on White" groups in New Hampshire schools twenty years ago. While the first Black president in the US still a momentous occasion, as Obama prepared to leave the office, I'm afraid we're more racist than less now, with more overt racism than what was covert for many years. Youth, still, seem to be marching us into a post-racial future, but some of us oldsters are getting tired of the wait.
March 11, 2022
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny."
Here’s the full letter:
Here’s the full letter:
April 1, 2015
The perfect day to read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's address to the eight white clergymen who called his activities in Birmingham "unwise & untimely. Dr. King has an extraordinary ability with words be they in speaking or writing. This impassioned response is one I will not forget. I do find it terribly sad that we are still have so far to go. While I found myself writing down many of his words, one caught my eye "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will." Give this a read, another reviewer provides a direct link.
January 15, 2018
“But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”
January 26, 2016
I have a reputation for writing powerful, effective letters, and I am proud to say that I have successfully fought for the rights of many individuals against the bigger society who have attempted to repress them. However, this letter is many leagues above any letter that I have ever written!
It is inspiring. I wonder if there is any public record of the response from the eight clergymen to whom this open letter was addressed?
My reading of this letter, on the day after Martin Luther King Jr Day (2013), was prompted by reading .
MLK makes a fantastic, reasoned case for the validity of nonviolent direct action to achieve the objective of bringing those who refuse to negotiate to the table.
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action.
He also addresses the assertion, made by the aforementioned clergymen, that his acitivities in Birmingham, Alabama, were "unwise and untimely."
Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action
campaign that was "well timed" in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.
His explanation, including examples, of the difference between just and unjust law are nothing short of superb.
MLK also uses many quotes from, and cites actions of, philosophers, biblical characters and American presidents. I particularly liked the references to Socrates. And, whether you believe in the truth of the Bible or not, you have to admire the way that he uses excerpts from that book to persuade his fellow religious leaders. There is no way that they can challenge him without endangering their integrity in their own churches and synagogues.
Finally, MLK apologises for the length of his letter, but justifies it by telling the recipients that he has long hours to while away whilst incarcerated in Birmingham Jail.
Do I recommend it? Much more than that, I urge you to go and read it now at ! It will only take you a few minutes, and you will agree with me, when you reach the end, that your time was well spent.
It is inspiring. I wonder if there is any public record of the response from the eight clergymen to whom this open letter was addressed?
My reading of this letter, on the day after Martin Luther King Jr Day (2013), was prompted by reading .
MLK makes a fantastic, reasoned case for the validity of nonviolent direct action to achieve the objective of bringing those who refuse to negotiate to the table.
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action.
He also addresses the assertion, made by the aforementioned clergymen, that his acitivities in Birmingham, Alabama, were "unwise and untimely."
Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action
campaign that was "well timed" in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.
His explanation, including examples, of the difference between just and unjust law are nothing short of superb.
MLK also uses many quotes from, and cites actions of, philosophers, biblical characters and American presidents. I particularly liked the references to Socrates. And, whether you believe in the truth of the Bible or not, you have to admire the way that he uses excerpts from that book to persuade his fellow religious leaders. There is no way that they can challenge him without endangering their integrity in their own churches and synagogues.
Finally, MLK apologises for the length of his letter, but justifies it by telling the recipients that he has long hours to while away whilst incarcerated in Birmingham Jail.
Do I recommend it? Much more than that, I urge you to go and read it now at ! It will only take you a few minutes, and you will agree with me, when you reach the end, that your time was well spent.
October 6, 2018
What can I say that hasn't been said already about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a person, his writings, and his speeches? It's all been said really.. Still I feel like I can add a little too this review.
Dr. King Jr. is a man that inspires me, and has ever since I was a kid, for his eloquence, pride in his people and heritage, and fight for what he believed in. When I've gone through tough times, including sexism and racism, I've looked to him for inspiration to not lash out with violence but find other ways to get some peace from the issue.
This letter is Dr. King Jr.'s response to his critics and people who don't understand why African-Americans were protesting, picketing, etc. in Birmingham, Alabama in the form of a letter he wrote while in the local jail. While reading this letter, I was hit hard with understand why the events in Birmingham and other areas were happening. I wasn't born when these events happen so this was like looking back into a time where life was less just and harder. My heart aches for all those who have suffered in the past, but bless them for helping make this country a better place. It still hurts because there is more that needs to happen before Dr. King Jr.'s vision becomes a reality. I'm determined to do my part; this letter just motivates me to do my part to make it happen.
Dr. King Jr. is a man that inspires me, and has ever since I was a kid, for his eloquence, pride in his people and heritage, and fight for what he believed in. When I've gone through tough times, including sexism and racism, I've looked to him for inspiration to not lash out with violence but find other ways to get some peace from the issue.
This letter is Dr. King Jr.'s response to his critics and people who don't understand why African-Americans were protesting, picketing, etc. in Birmingham, Alabama in the form of a letter he wrote while in the local jail. While reading this letter, I was hit hard with understand why the events in Birmingham and other areas were happening. I wasn't born when these events happen so this was like looking back into a time where life was less just and harder. My heart aches for all those who have suffered in the past, but bless them for helping make this country a better place. It still hurts because there is more that needs to happen before Dr. King Jr.'s vision becomes a reality. I'm determined to do my part; this letter just motivates me to do my part to make it happen.
January 20, 2015
I don't normally read something based on the day it is, but today's page of my new book-a-day calendar was for and my calendar says the letter "would take its place among works by Thoreau and Lincoln as a signpost of moral argument".
Well, then and there I decided I needed to read it. The letter holds many, many quotable lines (and, sadly, relevance for today) but instead of taking those lines out of context, I recommend that you read them in context: it's not long: .
Well, then and there I decided I needed to read it. The letter holds many, many quotable lines (and, sadly, relevance for today) but instead of taking those lines out of context, I recommend that you read them in context: it's not long: .
November 30, 2024
This is a remarkable document written by a political prisoner. King was responding to an open letter from eight, white, Birmingham clergymen, A Call for Unity, in which they condemned the interference of “outsiders” (an obvious reference to King) and piously called for activists to use the courts to resolve their grievances rather than direct action protest. King, in this, his own open letter answered them forcefully and eloquently, and with impressive erudition, while shaming them for their inaction and lukewarm pursuit of justice.
King addressed each relevant issue. He obliterated the call for further patients and waiting for justice:
”For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every negro with a piercing familiarity. This wait has almost always meant never. It has been a tranquillizing thelidomide, reliving the emotional stress for a moment only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration.”
He destroyed the claim that it was wrong for him to encourage disobedience to the law by succinctly differentiating between just and unjust law:
”There are two types of laws. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would be the first to advocating obeying just laws. One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all.”
”Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It give the segregation a false sense of superiority, and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”
And, most powerfully, he expressed his profound disappointment in white moderates (as represented by the eight Birmingham clergymen and their congregations):
”Over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I’ve almost reached the regrettable conclusion the the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice. Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill-will.”
”We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”
King addressed each relevant issue. He obliterated the call for further patients and waiting for justice:
”For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every negro with a piercing familiarity. This wait has almost always meant never. It has been a tranquillizing thelidomide, reliving the emotional stress for a moment only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration.”
He destroyed the claim that it was wrong for him to encourage disobedience to the law by succinctly differentiating between just and unjust law:
”There are two types of laws. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would be the first to advocating obeying just laws. One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all.”
”Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It give the segregation a false sense of superiority, and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”
And, most powerfully, he expressed his profound disappointment in white moderates (as represented by the eight Birmingham clergymen and their congregations):
”Over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I’ve almost reached the regrettable conclusion the the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice. Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill-will.”
”We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”
January 15, 2024
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. (Kindle 21)
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963, in response to a public statement from eight White religious leaders criticizing King's civil rights activities as "unwise and untimely." I write well on computer, but am almost incoherent with pen in hand. King was thoughtful as he outlined his argument in longhand. He observed, We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was "well timed" according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. (Kindle 67)
(That is, "Get over yourself. My actions are not to make you comfortable, but to affect much-needed societal change. There will never be a time when shaking up the system will feel right to you.")
Yet, King argued that he was not just advocating for change to shake things up, but a recognition that "there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all"" (Kindle 91). Hoe defines an unjust law as a law that is "out of harmony with the moral law." This is a slippery definition, but one that we should at least attempt to consider. (I like that Madame Secretary added an ethicist to the White House staff for its 5th season. If only this were true for my nation's capitol.)
I like order. I don't like expressions of anger and have had to work to become more comfortable with these rather than overly quickly shutting these down. (I also like disorder and unpredictability.) King wisely observed:
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor 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 can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. (Kindle 120)
Point well taken. I love both King's message and the lyrical nature of his writing.
And, King wanted white ministers to do more than exhort "their worshipers … comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, [he] longed to hear white ministers say, follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother" (Kindle 193).
Our behavior should be morally and ethically unreproachable, rather than only legal. Time and again, we discover that when Ethical and Comfortable butt heads, we choose Comfortable. I want to live ethically and morally.
This was a great essay to read as a follow-up to Coates' Between the World and Me.
This was a great essay.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963, in response to a public statement from eight White religious leaders criticizing King's civil rights activities as "unwise and untimely." I write well on computer, but am almost incoherent with pen in hand. King was thoughtful as he outlined his argument in longhand. He observed, We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was "well timed" according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. (Kindle 67)
(That is, "Get over yourself. My actions are not to make you comfortable, but to affect much-needed societal change. There will never be a time when shaking up the system will feel right to you.")
Yet, King argued that he was not just advocating for change to shake things up, but a recognition that "there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all"" (Kindle 91). Hoe defines an unjust law as a law that is "out of harmony with the moral law." This is a slippery definition, but one that we should at least attempt to consider. (I like that Madame Secretary added an ethicist to the White House staff for its 5th season. If only this were true for my nation's capitol.)
I like order. I don't like expressions of anger and have had to work to become more comfortable with these rather than overly quickly shutting these down. (I also like disorder and unpredictability.) King wisely observed:
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor 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 can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. (Kindle 120)
Point well taken. I love both King's message and the lyrical nature of his writing.
And, King wanted white ministers to do more than exhort "their worshipers … comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, [he] longed to hear white ministers say, follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother" (Kindle 193).
Our behavior should be morally and ethically unreproachable, rather than only legal. Time and again, we discover that when Ethical and Comfortable butt heads, we choose Comfortable. I want to live ethically and morally.
This was a great essay to read as a follow-up to Coates' Between the World and Me.
This was a great essay.
February 6, 2017
This letter is so important and still reads to be so true and so relevant. I was assigned this for school (as well as on civil disobedience which I will be reading next) though I have read it before. It's also especially relevant because yesterday I marched in the women's march in Atlanta. I live in the 5th district in Atlanta and John Lewis is my congressman (my district is doing just fine,by the way. Don't believe everything you read in a tweet). He spoke at the march yesterday and told all of us in the crowd to not let anyone turn us around. It is always important to be reminded that the time is always right to stand up against injustice. Martin Luther King Jr understood this better than anyone and we can all wish to be half the person he was. His words still bring inspiration and hope. When you're fighting it can often feel you're fighting alone but if you're fighting for what's right someone will always be standing right there with you
January 16, 2023
That whole 50s 60s civil rights movement and its history and MLKJr affected my faith and focus and changed my life. Courage and principle and passion have a way of doing that to many of us. A crucial cry for justice from the heart of suffering and God.
October 31, 2015
How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of Harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.
I have just finished watching Selma and I wanted to read this. Letter from the Birmingham Jail is an incredibly powerful and inspiring text. Martin Luther King spends his time in jail adressing criticism from another religious leaders for his chosen methods of non-violent protest.
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. 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 Councilor 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 mans freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro the wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating that absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Luther King cites renowned religious and philosophical figures during this letter to adress the problem of racism and to explain his reasoning for choosing a pacific method of protest. He is an incredibly smart and articulate man and his words are very uplifting and positive even when he is surrounded by distressing circumstances. I am incredibly moved by his words. This was an oustanding read not to mention a unique oportunity to enter the mind of one of the most prominent men in history. I will not forget his inspiring words anytime soon.
June 17, 2020
As many have said, it’s striking how relevant this is today. But then I realize that with 400 years of slave history and racial injustice in America, this wasn’t written all that long ago. This is free online, and I highly recommend you read it.
Read
February 3, 2021The sass MLK gives with the outright slaughter of racists is so pleasing ☺️
January 20, 2015
I read this for the first time as a whole this past MLK Day. A few amazing things struck me: I love how Dr. King starts off and then ends with a whole bit about how he usually is too damn busy to deal with the haters, but since these haters put him in jail he has time to write a really long letter. He also acknowledges in fairly humorous way how long this letter is: "Never before have I written a letter this long -- or should I say a book? ". It is of no surprise to anyone but the writing is amazing; his parallelism is unparalleled. And of course so much of this letter is relevant in some very tragic ways. My favorite part was Dr. King's acceptance and owning of the "extremist" label, it is something that is very much lost in modern understanding of his character.
May 19, 2016
Everyone should read this at least once.
April 4, 2019
an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
January 19, 2021
Available online as well as elsewhere.
I've never read this before. Well, of course not, I was educated in school districts still fighting desegregation, a war they largely won: American schools are more segregated now than at any point in the last fifty or so years.
My thanks to the many men, women, and children who have risked and lost their lives so that others may be free to enjoy their constitutional rights. You deserve better. Reading the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter, knowing what he and his family (among others) endured gives me a better understanding of what Christianity is at its best.
Also, that is perhaps the single most persuasive essay ever written. I have heard recordings enough to know what a marvelous skill he had at public speaking, but damn, I hadn't realized how much of that was his skill as a writer.
I've never read this before. Well, of course not, I was educated in school districts still fighting desegregation, a war they largely won: American schools are more segregated now than at any point in the last fifty or so years.
My thanks to the many men, women, and children who have risked and lost their lives so that others may be free to enjoy their constitutional rights. You deserve better. Reading the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter, knowing what he and his family (among others) endured gives me a better understanding of what Christianity is at its best.
Also, that is perhaps the single most persuasive essay ever written. I have heard recordings enough to know what a marvelous skill he had at public speaking, but damn, I hadn't realized how much of that was his skill as a writer.
December 20, 2015
I have lost my review twice now so this will be short. Read this! The text is available or at other sites. Dion Graham was a marvelous choice as narrator, as his voice has a similar timbre to MLK's - you can almost feel like King is speaking himself.
June 13, 2020
Powerful, eloquent words from MLK. Unfortunately, this is still as relevant today as it was over a half century ago.
Text of draft and audio recording of MLK reading the letter available here:
Text of draft and audio recording of MLK reading the letter available here:
February 2, 2021
Nearly sixty years later and it's still so relevant.
January 10, 2025
Incep anul în forță. Am zis sa citesc si eu din ce cărți am mai primit in ultimul timp, si asta era cea mai scurta. Well, e si cea mai plăcută lectura din ultimul timp. Nu credeam c-o să-mi placa asa tare, dar totuși, era culmea să-mi placa rapperi care sunt inspirați de MLK si să nu-mi placa ce spune chiar el:)
June 12, 2022
Eleanor: I don't know if I'm going to include all my notes in here.
Dad: Have a lot, eh?
Eleanor: Well, not all of them are the best... some I can't remember exactly why I marked them, and some of my notes, I don't think they're as good as when I first wrote them down.
Dad: Well, we'll kind of edit as we go. I think that happens when we read and think about things. I have that happen to me all the time when I write notes in the margins. I don't want to take so long writing that I lose the thread of what I'm reading... but I want to leave enough so that I remember why I marked it in the first place. It's a constant struggle.
El: I don't have to mark things too often, and when I do, it's usually the teacher saying, "write this down in the margin" and then they tell you exactly what they want you to write down.
Dad: I know. Ug. It's a little bit too much spoon feeding, and not enough letting the students work through it on their own, but that's another struggle, right?
El: Well... I guess I'm not teaching about annotating... so I guess I might not know.
Dad: Fair enough. It's worth pointing out that we both listened to this, and then we both read the text. I thought the two versions were each great.
El: I thought they were good, too. I thought it was a little bit harder to pay attention to it the second time, since I'd already read it the first.
Dad: I think I'm a bit of the opposite here. I paid even closer attention the second time, because I could go at a slower pace. Tell me a little bit about what you knew about MLK before you read this.
El: Well, I've heard the I Have a Dream speech several times. Actually, we did have to annotate it at one point.
Dad: How many times do you think you've heard that speech?
El: Like... Seven. Or more.
Dad: Really?
El: Probably. I remember I used to ask you to play it on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And then in sixth grade we listened to it around that time. ...And then we've listened to it every year in school after that... So... Probably seven.
Dad: Nice. Interesting. So, you should know it pretty well, then.
El: Yes. I also know that he went to prison for protesting. I heard a couple bits from the Mountaintop speech, but I don't really remember them too well.
Dad: I think that one's my favorite. And don't worry - you'll hear them again.
El: And I knew that he was assassinated.
Dad: Did you know that there was rioting in over 100 cities after he was assassinated?
El: I don't think I did know that. ...Maybe you told me at one point, but if you told me, I forgot.
Dad: I think it's worth mentioning - and we'll certainly discuss it in more detail later. But for now - let's get to the letter.
El: Usually when it's a story, I usually summarize it first, but I feel like the letter is a little bit different.
Dad: Yes. Well, let's start out: who is the letter to?
Eleanor: The letter is to the people of Birmingham. The white people of Birmingham.
Dad: And I'll add - ESPECIALLY the white Christian (well, religious - Christian and Jewish) leaders of Birmingham.
El: Yeah.
Dad: He doesn't say it at the beginning, like, "Dear White Christians of Birmingham" but it's in there. He says at one point, "I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers," for instance. Can you think of any other letters written to Christians? Kindof public letters - or letters that a lot of Christians read?
El: In the Bible there were letters from Paul.
Dad: Exactly. Exactly. I think there's something to that-
El: -And. Now that I think about it, Paul wrote those letters from jail - just like Martin Luther King did.
Dad: That's a great point. A great, great point. And some would argue that both Paul and King were imprisoned unjustly. Or - even if you conclude that they should have been imprisoned - because they knowingly broke the law - we would argue (as King does) that the laws themselves are unjust. Thoreau - who King studied, and was also unjustly imprisoned - said, "In an unjust society, the only place for a just man is a prison."
El: I never thought about that until now.
Dad: It's a little bit troubling, because I'm not sure any society is perfectly just.
El: Yeah. You're probably right about that. I think we try to be just, but it doesn't always work out.
Dad: Indeed. It's a common theme of King's. One of his most famous sayings is, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
El: Yeah. We don't have slaves anymore: so that's progress. And we're not segregated anymore: so that's progress.
Dad: But you and I would agree that those things are not good enough. That there's more work to be done - often times work that is difficult to see when we're sitting in an air conditioned house, eating strawberry shortcake and ice cream.
El: Yeah.
Dad: When we should be in prison.
El: Yeah. Although wait. Why would be in prison if we're not the ones doing the things that are wrong?
Dad: Well, I'm just thinking about what Thoreau said... and I'm assuming that you and I are just and want justice. You heard about King breaking laws, right?
El: Yeah. I mean, he literally brings it up in the letter.
Dad: Was he right to break those laws?
El: Yes.
Dad: I wonder if there are laws like that today that need broken. Or if we're like the white moderates he address. Too comfortable eating strawberry shortcake* to see the injustice and oppression in our country (and world) let alone to DO something about it.
El: Can you remind me what "white moderates" are? That was the one question I was going to ask about the letter. And there was something else I was going to bring up that might have something to do with that.
Dad: Let's look at one of the passages real quick.
El: Ok.
King:
Dad: What do you think?
El: That still doesn't answer my question. ...I think it's kindof funny. I ask you what a 'white moderate' is, and you give me the passage that it's mentioned in.
Dad: Heh. Yeah. Fair enough. But here, he's kindof defining it, too. When he says, "...who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice," what do you think he means?
El: I know what I'm thinking... I'm just trying to put it in the right words. I think he means that white moderates prefer injustice peacefully rather than justice with tension.
Dad: Yeah. Exactly. Bill Cosby (and apologies for bringing up Cosby in an MLK review...) Bill Cosby had a bit where he said, "Parents don't care about justice: they care about quiet." I think that has often been true of both my childhood, and my parenting. Sometimes I don't care who started it, or who's fault it is. Both of you go to your room. (If anybody is reading this... I don't think that's like... EVER happened with my own kids... but you know what I mean. For real though, they almost never get in trouble...) But that's what I think about when I think about negative peace vs positive peace. Billy (my brother) and I would be fighting - and he'd be punished along with me, even though it was completely my fault. That was a negative peace - it LOOKED like peace (because we were quiet) but it was actually still injustice. Positive peace would have been resolving the situation. And a quote from Jane Eyre, Conventionality is not morality.
El: This kind of goes back to what you were saying about it when you said that it was hard to remember that there are problems when you're eating strawberry shortcake and ice cream while sitting in an air conditioned house. In this book I'm listening to, "Want" by Cindy Pon (I'm not going to tell you much, because I want you to read it) there are these two groups of people - one rich and one poor - there's a lot of pollution in the world... It's basically about our world if we don't get pollution under control... The rich people have these suits that filter the air for them, while the poor do not. And it's hard for the rich to realize that... how bad the pollution is and that people are dying of it around them while they're going to parties and breathing filtered air.
Dad: Yeah. This sounds a lot like that, doesn't it?
El: Yeah. It does. I kindof feel like that's on a more extreme level, but I think that since I'm the one that would be going to parties and breathing filtered air in this context, I guess I don't know.
Dad: Yeah. There's SOOOOOooooo... much we have to talk about, from Erin Brockovich to the Flint Water Crisis.
El: Again... I do not know what either of those things or people are.
Dad: So, the white moderate. They're people who agree with King, but sleep on him. Like - they agree with him, but since they're eating their strawberry shortcake and ice cream, they don't have any real motivation to change anything.
El: Yeah. That makes sense now.
Dad: I read a story over the summer that had the line, "Every happy man should have some one with a little hammer at his door to knock and remind him that there are unhappy people, and that, however happy he may be, life will sooner or later show its claws, and some misfortune will befall him -- illness, poverty, loss, and then no one will see or hear him, just as he now neither sees nor hears others. But there is no man with a hammer, and the happy go on living, just a little fluttered with the petty cares of every day, like an aspen-tree in the wind -- and everything is all right.”
El: I think social media does that for some people. Sometimes social media is the man with the hammer.
Dad: Yeah. And here's it's King. The white moderate just wants to go on living, unbothered. But King wants justice. The white moderate says, "Now is not the time." And King writes the book, "Why We Can't Wait." The white moderate says, "Why are you breaking laws? Breaking laws is bad!" And King says, "I agree. I don't like that South refuses to obey the law to desegregate. Help me get them to stop refusing to obey the law." The white moderate wants quiet. King wants justice.
Dad: *Plays Mississippi Goddam*
Dad: What'd you think?
El: I don't know. I think some of the swears were a little unnecessary. Actually, a lot of the swears were unnecessary.
Dad: Which do you think is worse - swears, or lynching a black man?
El: Well... lynching a black man. Pretty obviously. I don't know why you need swears to stop that from happening, though.
Dad: I think, Nina Simone's point was that the song is SUPPOSED to be jarring. That we're more offended by the swears than by what's happening (or what was happening) in Mississippi. That the white moderate was like, "Go slow. Things are happening too fast." And Nina Simone was like, "Damn it, they're not happening fast enough. You're out here throwing kids in jail, and everybody sees it. And you're upset at my swearing."
El: That makes more sense.
Dad: Yeah. I'm not really a swearing person, but I think there's a time and a place for it. And this song is one of those times, and one of those places. Also, time - and the idea of going slow - was a big part of King's letter. Did you catch that?
El: No I didn't. Just kidding. Yes I did. Of COURSE I DID. I remember you told me about that book, "Why We Can't Wait" when you told me about Letter From Birmingham Jail. ...When I started reading the letter, I thought you were talking about that.
Dad: Yeah, well, there's certainly quite a bit of overlap between the two. And in a lot of the Civil Rights movement and speakers. Especially from the the portion in the 1950s-1970s.
*Liz just came out and asked how we're doing, and I realized what time it is...*
El: Wow. We've been out here for well over an hour.
Dad: Our review will end up being longer than the letter...
El: Yeah, and I didn't even use any of my notes. EVEN THE GOOD ONES!
Dad: Sorry about that! I took up all the time, and I still have so many notes in the margins myself! Give me a couple of your thoughts without me interrupting. How does that sound?
El: Sounds good. ...Although they'll be a little bit mixed together. Not very connected since you're just asking me to throw them on at the end.
Dad: Yeah. Go ahead.
El: Well, there was one time when Martin Luther King is saying that everything... well, here's the quote, "Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly." That kindof reminded me of how it is a lot of times, even now, because at school when one kid does something wrong or a few kids do something wrong - it could mean loss off cell phone privileges or no baseball caps - which doesn't really affect me, but could affect me in the future if I do take my phone to school or get a cap that's a baseball cap.
Dad: Right. Or when King says, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." That if it's unfair that one kid isn't allowed to use his cell phone - that sets the precedent for your phone to be taken... I'm actually cool with the no cell phone rule, for the record.
El: The no baseball cap is a little bit weird, though. I think it has to do with gangs or whatever, but it's still a weird rule.
Dad: Yeah, that one's a hold out from a long time ago, I think. It used to be considered rude to wear your hat inside. I'm not sure that's always the case, anymore.
El: Well, they also said you couldn't have it on your backpack, or wear it on your belt. ...That's not exactly wearing it or putting it on your head.
Dad: Yeah. That sounds like they're trying to stop gang stuff. As one who is against violence in schools, or elsewhere, I get it.
El: Well, me too... but... I don't always understand all those gang things, which makes me think the rule seems a little bit crazy.
Dad: That's understandable. I'm going to wrap it up. Thanks for reading it. ...Twice. And thanks for sitting out here and talking about it with me. I'd ask you for one thing you took from it, but I think there's just so much. Still so much that we didn't cover.
El: Yeah, you're probably right. I'd ask if you want to read the review. And I kindof want to.... But I know it's very. Very long.
Dad: Yeah. The letter is only 6 pages. ...If you (dear reader) haven't read it: consider it. It's only 6 pages. Well, smallish font, but still. So, the review *might* be longer. We'll have to check. But let's read it.
*Liz made strawberry shortcake last night. Hence the continual references.
Dad: Have a lot, eh?
Eleanor: Well, not all of them are the best... some I can't remember exactly why I marked them, and some of my notes, I don't think they're as good as when I first wrote them down.
Dad: Well, we'll kind of edit as we go. I think that happens when we read and think about things. I have that happen to me all the time when I write notes in the margins. I don't want to take so long writing that I lose the thread of what I'm reading... but I want to leave enough so that I remember why I marked it in the first place. It's a constant struggle.
El: I don't have to mark things too often, and when I do, it's usually the teacher saying, "write this down in the margin" and then they tell you exactly what they want you to write down.
Dad: I know. Ug. It's a little bit too much spoon feeding, and not enough letting the students work through it on their own, but that's another struggle, right?
El: Well... I guess I'm not teaching about annotating... so I guess I might not know.
Dad: Fair enough. It's worth pointing out that we both listened to this, and then we both read the text. I thought the two versions were each great.
El: I thought they were good, too. I thought it was a little bit harder to pay attention to it the second time, since I'd already read it the first.
Dad: I think I'm a bit of the opposite here. I paid even closer attention the second time, because I could go at a slower pace. Tell me a little bit about what you knew about MLK before you read this.
El: Well, I've heard the I Have a Dream speech several times. Actually, we did have to annotate it at one point.
Dad: How many times do you think you've heard that speech?
El: Like... Seven. Or more.
Dad: Really?
El: Probably. I remember I used to ask you to play it on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And then in sixth grade we listened to it around that time. ...And then we've listened to it every year in school after that... So... Probably seven.
Dad: Nice. Interesting. So, you should know it pretty well, then.
El: Yes. I also know that he went to prison for protesting. I heard a couple bits from the Mountaintop speech, but I don't really remember them too well.
Dad: I think that one's my favorite. And don't worry - you'll hear them again.
El: And I knew that he was assassinated.
Dad: Did you know that there was rioting in over 100 cities after he was assassinated?
El: I don't think I did know that. ...Maybe you told me at one point, but if you told me, I forgot.
Dad: I think it's worth mentioning - and we'll certainly discuss it in more detail later. But for now - let's get to the letter.
El: Usually when it's a story, I usually summarize it first, but I feel like the letter is a little bit different.
Dad: Yes. Well, let's start out: who is the letter to?
Eleanor: The letter is to the people of Birmingham. The white people of Birmingham.
Dad: And I'll add - ESPECIALLY the white Christian (well, religious - Christian and Jewish) leaders of Birmingham.
El: Yeah.
Dad: He doesn't say it at the beginning, like, "Dear White Christians of Birmingham" but it's in there. He says at one point, "I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers," for instance. Can you think of any other letters written to Christians? Kindof public letters - or letters that a lot of Christians read?
El: In the Bible there were letters from Paul.
Dad: Exactly. Exactly. I think there's something to that-
El: -And. Now that I think about it, Paul wrote those letters from jail - just like Martin Luther King did.
Dad: That's a great point. A great, great point. And some would argue that both Paul and King were imprisoned unjustly. Or - even if you conclude that they should have been imprisoned - because they knowingly broke the law - we would argue (as King does) that the laws themselves are unjust. Thoreau - who King studied, and was also unjustly imprisoned - said, "In an unjust society, the only place for a just man is a prison."
El: I never thought about that until now.
Dad: It's a little bit troubling, because I'm not sure any society is perfectly just.
El: Yeah. You're probably right about that. I think we try to be just, but it doesn't always work out.
Dad: Indeed. It's a common theme of King's. One of his most famous sayings is, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
El: Yeah. We don't have slaves anymore: so that's progress. And we're not segregated anymore: so that's progress.
Dad: But you and I would agree that those things are not good enough. That there's more work to be done - often times work that is difficult to see when we're sitting in an air conditioned house, eating strawberry shortcake and ice cream.
El: Yeah.
Dad: When we should be in prison.
El: Yeah. Although wait. Why would be in prison if we're not the ones doing the things that are wrong?
Dad: Well, I'm just thinking about what Thoreau said... and I'm assuming that you and I are just and want justice. You heard about King breaking laws, right?
El: Yeah. I mean, he literally brings it up in the letter.
Dad: Was he right to break those laws?
El: Yes.
Dad: I wonder if there are laws like that today that need broken. Or if we're like the white moderates he address. Too comfortable eating strawberry shortcake* to see the injustice and oppression in our country (and world) let alone to DO something about it.
El: Can you remind me what "white moderates" are? That was the one question I was going to ask about the letter. And there was something else I was going to bring up that might have something to do with that.
Dad: Let's look at one of the passages real quick.
El: Ok.
King:
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than 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 can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Dad: What do you think?
El: That still doesn't answer my question. ...I think it's kindof funny. I ask you what a 'white moderate' is, and you give me the passage that it's mentioned in.
Dad: Heh. Yeah. Fair enough. But here, he's kindof defining it, too. When he says, "...who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice," what do you think he means?
El: I know what I'm thinking... I'm just trying to put it in the right words. I think he means that white moderates prefer injustice peacefully rather than justice with tension.
Dad: Yeah. Exactly. Bill Cosby (and apologies for bringing up Cosby in an MLK review...) Bill Cosby had a bit where he said, "Parents don't care about justice: they care about quiet." I think that has often been true of both my childhood, and my parenting. Sometimes I don't care who started it, or who's fault it is. Both of you go to your room. (If anybody is reading this... I don't think that's like... EVER happened with my own kids... but you know what I mean. For real though, they almost never get in trouble...) But that's what I think about when I think about negative peace vs positive peace. Billy (my brother) and I would be fighting - and he'd be punished along with me, even though it was completely my fault. That was a negative peace - it LOOKED like peace (because we were quiet) but it was actually still injustice. Positive peace would have been resolving the situation. And a quote from Jane Eyre, Conventionality is not morality.
El: This kind of goes back to what you were saying about it when you said that it was hard to remember that there are problems when you're eating strawberry shortcake and ice cream while sitting in an air conditioned house. In this book I'm listening to, "Want" by Cindy Pon (I'm not going to tell you much, because I want you to read it) there are these two groups of people - one rich and one poor - there's a lot of pollution in the world... It's basically about our world if we don't get pollution under control... The rich people have these suits that filter the air for them, while the poor do not. And it's hard for the rich to realize that... how bad the pollution is and that people are dying of it around them while they're going to parties and breathing filtered air.
Dad: Yeah. This sounds a lot like that, doesn't it?
El: Yeah. It does. I kindof feel like that's on a more extreme level, but I think that since I'm the one that would be going to parties and breathing filtered air in this context, I guess I don't know.
Dad: Yeah. There's SOOOOOooooo... much we have to talk about, from Erin Brockovich to the Flint Water Crisis.
El: Again... I do not know what either of those things or people are.
Dad: So, the white moderate. They're people who agree with King, but sleep on him. Like - they agree with him, but since they're eating their strawberry shortcake and ice cream, they don't have any real motivation to change anything.
El: Yeah. That makes sense now.
Dad: I read a story over the summer that had the line, "Every happy man should have some one with a little hammer at his door to knock and remind him that there are unhappy people, and that, however happy he may be, life will sooner or later show its claws, and some misfortune will befall him -- illness, poverty, loss, and then no one will see or hear him, just as he now neither sees nor hears others. But there is no man with a hammer, and the happy go on living, just a little fluttered with the petty cares of every day, like an aspen-tree in the wind -- and everything is all right.”
El: I think social media does that for some people. Sometimes social media is the man with the hammer.
Dad: Yeah. And here's it's King. The white moderate just wants to go on living, unbothered. But King wants justice. The white moderate says, "Now is not the time." And King writes the book, "Why We Can't Wait." The white moderate says, "Why are you breaking laws? Breaking laws is bad!" And King says, "I agree. I don't like that South refuses to obey the law to desegregate. Help me get them to stop refusing to obey the law." The white moderate wants quiet. King wants justice.
Dad: *Plays Mississippi Goddam*
Dad: What'd you think?
El: I don't know. I think some of the swears were a little unnecessary. Actually, a lot of the swears were unnecessary.
Dad: Which do you think is worse - swears, or lynching a black man?
El: Well... lynching a black man. Pretty obviously. I don't know why you need swears to stop that from happening, though.
Dad: I think, Nina Simone's point was that the song is SUPPOSED to be jarring. That we're more offended by the swears than by what's happening (or what was happening) in Mississippi. That the white moderate was like, "Go slow. Things are happening too fast." And Nina Simone was like, "Damn it, they're not happening fast enough. You're out here throwing kids in jail, and everybody sees it. And you're upset at my swearing."
El: That makes more sense.
Dad: Yeah. I'm not really a swearing person, but I think there's a time and a place for it. And this song is one of those times, and one of those places. Also, time - and the idea of going slow - was a big part of King's letter. Did you catch that?
El: No I didn't. Just kidding. Yes I did. Of COURSE I DID. I remember you told me about that book, "Why We Can't Wait" when you told me about Letter From Birmingham Jail. ...When I started reading the letter, I thought you were talking about that.
Dad: Yeah, well, there's certainly quite a bit of overlap between the two. And in a lot of the Civil Rights movement and speakers. Especially from the the portion in the 1950s-1970s.
*Liz just came out and asked how we're doing, and I realized what time it is...*
El: Wow. We've been out here for well over an hour.
Dad: Our review will end up being longer than the letter...
El: Yeah, and I didn't even use any of my notes. EVEN THE GOOD ONES!
Dad: Sorry about that! I took up all the time, and I still have so many notes in the margins myself! Give me a couple of your thoughts without me interrupting. How does that sound?
El: Sounds good. ...Although they'll be a little bit mixed together. Not very connected since you're just asking me to throw them on at the end.
Dad: Yeah. Go ahead.
El: Well, there was one time when Martin Luther King is saying that everything... well, here's the quote, "Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly." That kindof reminded me of how it is a lot of times, even now, because at school when one kid does something wrong or a few kids do something wrong - it could mean loss off cell phone privileges or no baseball caps - which doesn't really affect me, but could affect me in the future if I do take my phone to school or get a cap that's a baseball cap.
Dad: Right. Or when King says, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." That if it's unfair that one kid isn't allowed to use his cell phone - that sets the precedent for your phone to be taken... I'm actually cool with the no cell phone rule, for the record.
El: The no baseball cap is a little bit weird, though. I think it has to do with gangs or whatever, but it's still a weird rule.
Dad: Yeah, that one's a hold out from a long time ago, I think. It used to be considered rude to wear your hat inside. I'm not sure that's always the case, anymore.
El: Well, they also said you couldn't have it on your backpack, or wear it on your belt. ...That's not exactly wearing it or putting it on your head.
Dad: Yeah. That sounds like they're trying to stop gang stuff. As one who is against violence in schools, or elsewhere, I get it.
El: Well, me too... but... I don't always understand all those gang things, which makes me think the rule seems a little bit crazy.
Dad: That's understandable. I'm going to wrap it up. Thanks for reading it. ...Twice. And thanks for sitting out here and talking about it with me. I'd ask you for one thing you took from it, but I think there's just so much. Still so much that we didn't cover.
El: Yeah, you're probably right. I'd ask if you want to read the review. And I kindof want to.... But I know it's very. Very long.
Dad: Yeah. The letter is only 6 pages. ...If you (dear reader) haven't read it: consider it. It's only 6 pages. Well, smallish font, but still. So, the review *might* be longer. We'll have to check. But let's read it.
*Liz made strawberry shortcake last night. Hence the continual references.
February 4, 2019
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”
“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." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
“...we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”
You can read the full text here:
“For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”
“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." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
“...we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”
You can read the full text here:
March 29, 2019
A staggeringly powerful letter; unfortunately still very relevant to the ongoing struggle against racism, segregation and prejudice. King Jr. writes humbly, beautifully and uses touching metaphors. The letter is riddled with many important takeaways for activists of all kinds.
A must-read for everyone.
A must-read for everyone.
September 20, 2017
Powerful, exemplary prose. I'm moved with every word.
August 26, 2021
Read this for class today— so well argued, so convicting. Absolutely packed with historical and biblical evidence/examples and similarly filled to the brim with compassion.
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