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Summary Of Why We Can T Wait

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Why We Can’t Wait gives the reader the feeling of life not just as an African-American living in the Jim Crow South, however, it gives more than that. It gives the insight into the thought process’ and philosophies one of the most influential leaders of civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King was a Baptist minister and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was a leader in the civil rights movement for not just people of African descent, but an advocator for the civil rights of all oppressed people. This book is his personal accounts of what took place in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. The “Negro Revolution” (p. 2) would be the movement to enlist thousands of volunteer African-Americans into his non-violent …show more content…

However, the Emancipation may have granted African-Americans physical freedom, but 100 years later they are still not free from oppression. White America still viewed African-Americans as not equals. Dr. King highlights this thought process by quoting then vice-president Lyndon B Johnson: “Emancipation was a Proclamation but not a fact.” (p. 12) This is why Dr. King and the other millions of African-American cannot wait any longer. The Constitution of the United States proclaims, “that all men are created equal”, yet “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” remains as a privilege for only the white people in this country. The injustices to black people have gone on for too …show more content…

King knew to change Birmingham the political landscape needed to change. To change the political landscape there needed to be pressure from business. To pressure business, direct action needs to take place. Dr. King's theory was: “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.” (p. 89) Nonviolent direct action not only opened a door for negotiations on civil rights, but it also gave a new conscience to African-Americans. It showed that they have a voice, a voice that can make a sound in the deaf ears of Southern

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