The institutional affiliation
Martin Luther King was an activist, orator, humanitarian, protestor, organizer, leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, as well as the Nobel laureate. He is also widely regarded as one of the most powerful nonviolent leaders in the world’s history. His “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are the most honored orations and writings in the English language. In the following essay it will be examined the fundamental work titled Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King while he has been imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama.
First, it is necessary to explain that Martin Luther King with his campaign came to Birmingham to reform the city’s segregation policies, as well as uncover the violence of this organization to the world. Then the Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader, Martin Luther, was arrested and confined along with a great number of his supporters (King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, 5, 2013). After his imprisonment, he wrote an essay Letter from Birmingham Jail as a response that voiced his philosophy of civil disobedience.
It should be mentioned that King provided a moral reason for his presence in Birmingham. He believed that there is injustice and that all local communities and states are interrelated (King Jr., 1963). As a reason of that, he felt forced to battle injustice anywhere it is being practiced. Dr. King reckoned that clergymen made a mistake in criticizing the protestors.
The important point to note is that Martin Luther explained in detail the steps of the process of organizing nonviolent action. The activist named four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, negotiation, self-purification and direct action (King Jr., 1963). Each and every step is connected to one another. Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the nation. The evidence of injustice was shown by means of police brutality, unsolved bombings, refusal of political leaders to negotiate with people, etc. Then, King was trying to talk with local merchants. However, the results were deplorable: the promises were made, but not kept. When they faced broken promises, the campaign moved to the third step. They underwent the period of self-purification in order to determine whether they were ready to act nonviolently and endure indignity and arrest. The last but not least was the step of making a direct action. After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, the protestors decided to make a nonviolent demonstration (King Jr., 1963).
Furthermore, in Letter from Birmingham Jail the reader sees Martin Luther King’s thoughts and intentions based on Judeo-Christian ethics. This is further shown by the fact that he made a statement about Jewish and Christian ethics. The Jewish principle “an eye for an eye” is perceived as when a person hurts someone then he/she is punished to a similar degree. On the other hand, the Talmud should be comprehended correctly and accurately. This in turn means that the Jewish “an eye for an eye” doctrine cannot be understood literally (Aish.com, 2016). The critique related to these arguments is that Dr. King made efforts to have a quiet demonstration and he would fight the antipathy with peace and nonviolence. In addition, he emphasized that the Christian ethical principle “love one another” refers to all people regardless of race or skin color. His interpretation of those concepts gives humanity an inspiration to be kind to each other and love all human beings. King wanted people to see the motivation in his words in order to gain retaliation.
Martin Luther was urged to pose another question. He was trying to oppose the clergymen’s statement that the actions of protesters were “untimely”. Thus, Dr. King insisted on that the black community had waited long enough for justice and the black people had been already pushed into the abyss of despair because of the abuses that they had suffered.
In modern world there are a lot of examples of racial abuse. To be more exact, it is appropriate to point out the issue of shooting of Michael Brown. On August 2014 in Ferguson unarmed African-American Michael Brown was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer (Halpern, 2015). The next day vigorous debates began to cover the relationship between the African-American man and police officer. In any case, Darren Wilson made twelve shots. According to the evidence, the policeman shot Michael Brown in self-defense. Nevertheless, the event shows that there is no common opinion as to the results of the accident until now. People will always debate whether the police officer acted correctly or not. The key point to note is that basically racial issues are very sensitive in essence.
Finally, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that Martin Luther King’s life doctrine proclaims the humanity needs to achieve equality and justice for everyone. He was a Christian minister whose philosophy represented some of the best principles for creating harmony and consent among all people on Earth regardless of their race or religion. This activist decidedly protested against segregation and proved to be a dedicated minister who continually impersonated the depths of his beliefs and the significance of his wisdom.
References
Aish.com. (2016). Eye for an Eye: Oral Law – General Response on Ask the Rabbi. Retrieved 26 January 2016, from http://www.aish.com/atr/Eye-for-an-Eye.html
Halpern, J. (2015). The Man Who Shot Michael Brown. The New Yorker. Retrieved 26 January 2016, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/the-cop
King Jr., M. L. (1963). Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database Academic Search Elite. Letter from Birmingham Jail
King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, 5. (2013). King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, 50 Years Later - History in the Headlines. HISTORY.com. Retrieved 26 January 2016, from http://www.history.com/news/kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail-50-years-later
