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Elective English–II

Notes can’t 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 Fun town is closed to colored children, and
see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky.” There is a need
to take action to restore human dignity for no one deserves to be called “nigger” or “boy” as
if it were their names. Experiences like this should incur sympathy from everyone let alone
men of God, how could anyone stand in silence while human dignity is being debased right
in their back yard. Just as the Jews have waited for a promise land and be freed from their
oppressors so are all the minorities of America waiting for the promise land of “racial justice.”
It would strike me to the core to be compared to biblical oppressors such as the Egyptians or
Babylonians.
As passionate as King was about social justice and desegregation, he did not let his emotions
get the best of him for his letter if not anything else it was logical. He made sure the clergymen
understood that their criticism is of great importance to him for he does not waste his time
to respond to every criticism. He also wanted them to understand that the protest is not the
action of a heated moment but that is well thought out, “We decided to schedule our direct-
action program for the Easter season, realizing that, except for Christmas, this is the main
shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic withdrawal program would be
the by-product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to
bear on the merchants for the needed change.” The idea is to bring pressure to change and to
endure brutality even unto non-retaliation.
Obviously, laws are essential to the continuing and orderly function of society. However law
can be just and unjust and those that are unjust are contrary to the welfare of a nation’s
citizens. King gave concrete examples of what a just law is and what an unjust law is and how
to tell the difference between them. Through logic he is able to demonstrate how we can
balance between the ideas of being obedience to the law and how the law can be wrong. In
this way he shows that he is not being contradictory in following the Supreme Court’s ruling
in 1954 but not the laws in Birmingham.
“Be the change you want to see in the world,” these words from Mahatma Gandhi truly
describe Martin Luther King. He was the epitome of social justice, of desegregation, and
honouring human dignity through non-violent means. He wanted a world with peace so he
suffered without retaliating, and he wanted a world that confronted its frailties, so he chose
peaceful protests to bring awareness. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” appeals to the logical,
intellectual, and human in all of us.

Self Assessment

1. When plans were announced for a march from Selma to Montgomery, who prohibited
the event?
(a) Lyndon Johnson (b) Eugene “Bull” Conner
(c) Stokely Carmichael (d) George Wallace

2. How many federal troops were sent to accompany protestors, the third time they marched
from Selma to Montgomery?
(a) 40 (b) 400

(c) 4000 (d) None
3. During the Selma Campaign, whom did the Ku Klux Klan kill?
(a) A Unitarian minister (b) A nun
(c) A Baptist preacher (d) A priest

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