Clarence B. Jones, a friend and speech writer for Martin Luther King Jr., called the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” “one of the most profound (examples of) literature created in the 20th century.” The letter of nearly 7000 words scrawled on the edges of a newspaper and various scraps of paper is now routinely studied in college composition classes and used by social justice scholars. King wrote the letter at a strategic and personal low point. Southern Christian Leadership Conference funds were running out and new strategies by segregationists blunted civil rights efforts. Arrested on Good Friday, April 12, 1963, King was placed in solitary confinement in the jail of one of America’s most racist cities, Birmingham, Alabama. In response to “A Call for Unity” written by eight white clergy and published in the Birmingham News condemning his extremism, King penned his masterpiece. I will share just three of its many lessons about ethics, justice, and history. First, King justifies breaking segregation laws by distinguishing between just and unjust laws. Just laws uplift human personality and emphasize the sameness of human beings. Unjust laws degrade human personality and deny equal protection of the law – it is “difference made legal.” King writes that it is an ethical imperative to break unjust laws and to do so “openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.” Second, accused by clergy of spreading ugly discord wherever he went, King explained that ugly racism was already pervasive in America, festering “like a boil” that cannot heal without being opened “to the natural medicines of air and light.” Like a needle lancing an infected wound, King’s civil disobedience brought racial discrimination to the surface to help the process of healing. It pushed politicians to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Third, King rejected calls for patience and moderation. Though King would have preferred not to have had to lance the boil of racism, he believed the words of Chief Justice Earl Warren shared in 1958: “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” King bemoaned that “wait” had almost always meant “never.” He condemned white liberals “who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom.” King’s frustration over the “shallow understanding from people of good will” is why I began this 400 Years project. Continued “shallow understanding” today is why I will not stop. (Plans for continuing next year coming up in Blog #53.)
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