We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed. 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. Lamentably, it is a historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without legal and nonviolent pressure. Nonviolent direct action seeks to foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. You may well ask, “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: “Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?” “Are you able to endure the ordeals of jail?”. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to take a process of self-purification. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and national community. The signs remained.Īs in so many experiences in the past, our hopes had been blasted, and our disappointment was keenly felt. As the weeks and months went by we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to call a moratorium on all demonstrations. In the course of the negotiations certain promises were made by the merchants-for example, the promise to remove the stores’ humiliating racial signs. Then last September came the opportunity last September to talk with the leaders of Birmingham’s economic community. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation. On the basis of these conditions Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in this nation. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality. Its ugly record of police brutality is widely known. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification and direct action. Several months ago our local affiliate here in Birmingham invited us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We have some 85 affiliate organizations all across the South. I think I should give the reason for my being in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the argument of “outsiders coming in.” I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern state with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms. While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. Source: “Letter from Birmingham Jail’” The Christian Century: An Ecumenical Weekly, June 12, 1963, 767-773. As you read the excerpts below, notice King’s focus on the role of the individual in combating racism and the legal segregation that then existed in the South. He called on leaders in the southern church to actively support social reform. King insisted on the need for immediate racial change and the absolute necessity of protest until change occurred. Although initially addressed to eight “liberal” Alabama clergymen, the letter gained a wider audience once published in the June editions of Christian Century magazine and Atlantic Monthly. King defended the actions of the Birmingham protesters, questioned the role of white moderates and southern faith leaders in the civil rights movement, and expounded on the intended consequences of non-violent resistance. In this rare and direct response to his critics, Dr. began writing what became known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963. While in jail for participating in the Birmingham desegregation campaign, the Reverend Dr.
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