Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I sat in my comfortable, warm living room on a brilliantly sunny but cold day – 25 degrees – and read his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” I don’t know whether I’ve ever read all of it at one sitting, but I did this morning. I wanted to remember who he was, what he stood for, in his own words, not settle for snippets (despite their haunting beauty) or sound bites. Over the weekend, I heard an interview that described these six pages being written by King on sometimes disgusting scraps of paper, smuggled out of jail and faithfully transcribed by someone who couldn’t bring themselves to save the dirty scraps. I thought about how most of what would be quoted today would be “scraps.” So I read the whole letter, as sunlight streamed in my front window, filtered through my still decorated Christmas tree. Here are a few quotations that might spur others to read this letter.
“I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.” “History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups are more immortal that individuals.” “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair.” And, finally, “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 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. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
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