His argument here is that allowing a law to reign supreme without assessing its moral quality produces a situation like that of Nazi Germany. So I have not said to my people: Get rid of your discontent. Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. Further, he frequently uses their definitions to show how they are contradicting themselves. Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. On April 19, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) wrote a detailed letter from Birmingham Jail in reply to some public releases which were directed at undermining his fight for civil equality. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, Wait. 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 cant 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?; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading white and colored; when your first name becomes nigger, your middle name becomes boy (however old you are) and your last name becomes John, and your wife and mother are never given the respected title Mrs.; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of nobodinessthen you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that states segregation laws was democratically elected? We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. King is expressing his apology for the demonstrations themselves, but he is not apologizing for the reasons and purposes behind the demonstrations. One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. His hope is that he will not only defend himself against the clergymen and white moderates in general, but also that he will encourage them to support his cause. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest. They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience sake. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. 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. The solution to the Letter From Birmingham Jail initials crossword clue should be: MLK (3 letters) Below, you'll find any keyword(s) defined that may help you understand the clue or the answer better. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Individuals must actively seek to create the world they want, since there is no inevitable sense of fate that will deliver it. Letter from birmingham jail summary. And now this approach is being termed extremist. Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birminghams economic community. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Discuss Dr. Kings use of restraint in the Letter. What does it reveal about his purpose, and what is its effect? resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. What does this mean, and how do these sections differ? For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. It will cover the parts of the SOAPSTone method, offer examples, and give a sample introductory paragraph to an analysis essay, including a thesis, using the template described in the analysis packet. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. what is the perspective of these people and why does it matter. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. Then it occurred to us that Birminghams mayoral election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. Due to the extent of his higher learning, Dr. King had ready access to a number of allusions from a variety of religious and secular traditions, and he makes full use of that knowledge in the Letter. While each allusion serves a particular purpose in the context of the argument in which it is used, when taken together they underline two aspects of his argument. Opening through "I have organizational ties here." Throughout the Letter, Dr. King is careful to measure his tone, to avoid validating any knee-jerk anxieties that his audience might feel. If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. 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. But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were a colony of heaven, called to obey God rather than man. SOAPS chart of MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Subject Why he is in Birmingham Segregation as social justice Civil disobedience as an instrument of freedom : Occasion Accusation of misuse of the law Nonviolent protests in Birmingham Disappointing leadership of the clergy : He makes this point explicitly in the early part of the Letter. This argument supports his defense of civil disobedience, allows him to criticize the church for supporting the status quo rather than empowering crusaders for change, and supports the idea that law must reflect morality since it might otherwise be designed solely for the comfort of the majority. In context, he is turning the tables on those who've caused the demonstrations in the first place. Letter From Birmingham Jail study guide contains a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. It will cover the parts of the SOAPSTone method, offer examples, and give a sample. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. There was a time when the church was very powerfulin the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boylehave written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. He establishes this by referring to the greatest indignity in black American history slavery and yet owning that period with optimism, as an indication that the black man will triumph over any adversity. Birmingham was one of the most racially segregated and oppressive, to blacks, city in America. I had hoped that each of you would understand. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. The protests began with to pressure business leaders to cease discrimination for employment and end segregation in public facilities, restaurants, Why would King express his apology in this way? 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