MLK

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“Letter from Birmingham Jail” Summary

In Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, he explained his actions to his fellow clergymen. They accused him and his followers of engaging in “unwise and untimely” activities. He defended that they did not irresponsibly move into direct action, their activity in Birmingham was not extreme, and the laxity of the Church. Ordinarily, King barely glanced at the comments of his critics but he felt compelled to respond to the clergy. He felt that they were men of genuine good will and wholesome heart. In his essay, he listed many points of reason for his actions and imprisonment. One of the explanations was why he was in Birmingham jail in the first place. He said he was there because of its injustice and he came to answer the call for aid. It was important to him to help his fellow man in Birmingham because he strongly felt that “injustice anywhere was a threat to justice everywhere”. Whatever affected a person directly affected everyone indirectly in the future.
King’s first main point was that he and his followers did not move irresponsibly into direct action. His nonviolent direct action was taken in order to make society notice that there was an injustice present in that society and to force them to face the issue at hand. He wanted to dramatize the issue in order for it to be no longer ignored. His second major point was that their activity in Birmingham was not extreme. Their normal and healthy discontent was able to be channeled through the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. He claimed that John Bunyan, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln alike were all crucified for being “extremists”. If they were extreme, it was because of the cause of justice to all around the world. His last main point was that of his disappointment towards the white Church and its leadership. He thought that they were going to e among the strongest of their...