radicaldiscipleship by AZRON

Today marks the 40th annivesary of the death of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

While Rev. King is best remembered for his "I have a dream' speech, many believe his most important contribution to the civil right movement was his letter to the Burmingham, AL clergymen who were not as eager to embrace the cause. This is the first page of a nine page letter.

One of the most important pieces of this letter is his argument that 'non-violent action' doesn't mean 'non-action'. Rather 'non-violent action' often involves active action. This tactic was used by South Africans seeking the overthrow of apartheid. It has similarly been embraced by the Buddhist monks in Tibet and Burma.

Today is a good day to reflect on the significance of Rev. King, Jr to the ongoing battle for justice.

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail "

16 April 1963
My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your
recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely."
Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought
to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would
have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the
course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But
since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your
criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your
statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have
been influenced by the view which argues against "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. We have some eighty five
affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff,
educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months
ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage
in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We
readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise.
So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was
invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just
as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and
carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their
home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and
carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco
Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my
own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian
call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and
states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what
happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied
in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects
all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow,
provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United
States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your
statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for
the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that
none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of
social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple
with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are
taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the
city's white power structure left the Negro community with no
alternative.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of
the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self
purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps
in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial
injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most
thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of
brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust
treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of
Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the
nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of
these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city
fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith
negotiation.