Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Injustice has been part of humanity since our most primitive times. Still alive today, it has led a brave few to fight back and break the law correctly. Take the recent Dakota Access pipeline protests: Over 500 people have been arrested for protesting against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, saying that it will threaten drinking water and cultural sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The tribe has been subject to oppression and intrusion of white people for centuries, but this was the final straw. They have repeatedly petitioned for the construction to be rerouted, but plenty of backlash from law enforcement has followed. These citizens have done their duty by breaking the law for a just cause. Breaking the law is the duty of the citizens

wrote a letter to his fellow clergymen, explaining why he was protesting against the injustice towards the African American community. Lucidly titled Letter from Birmingham Jail, King discussed the underlying reasons for his arrest and why he was breaking the law in the first place. He starts out by saying that he is “in Birmingham because injustice is here,” explaining that he is “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond his own home town.” He, too, realized his duty as an American to make others aware of the injustice that existed in his country. His basis for this mission consists of four steps: collection of facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action. After relentless nonviolent direct action, the community is finally forced to confront the problem. However, the answer of the white oppressors in Birmingham was to subdue the retaliation. By arresting the protestors, they only temporarily silenced the complaints and objections. King goes on to say that “privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.” Why would the privileged majority have any feeling of inclination to share their privileges? Instead, freedom must be demanded by the oppressed, which it what King and his fellow activists sought to do. After being told to “wait” for 340 years for their constitutional and God-given rights, they were exposed to enough injustice and finally express their dissent. Overall, by breaking the law, they were expressing their moral responsibility to disobey the unjust laws of segregation. As seen in the Declaration of Independence, it is the duty of the citizens to throw off governments that do not provide rights for its citizens. The civil rights activists, especially King, nonviolently fought for their freedom and equal rights under the US