Martin Luther Kings Letter from a Birmingham Jail - Essay Example

Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was written to eight ministers in Birmingham, Alabama in response to a published appeal signed by them urging their congregations to stop their demonstrations against the segregation laws in 1963. Although these laws had been oppressing the black population of the South since the end of the Civil War, these ministers felt that demonstrations against them would only bring more harm to the people.

King was one of the 53 people arrested on Good Friday of 1963 after the demonstration that prompted the ministers’ appeal and this letter was written in response to their protest. In the letter, King attempts to convince the ministers of the rationality of his actions and points out why they are necessary if natural ‘human goodness’ and morality were to be given a chance. Arguing that everyone, white and black, possessed natural ‘human goodness’, King points out that most white people, particularly in the North, had not heard or perhaps not noticed the desperate condition of the black people of the South following the Emancipation Proclamation.

Although they were free, they had to try to support themselves in a world that legally segregated them from the means of doing this. Only by forcing attention on the issues, through non-violent protest, would the black people be able to gain the attention of the white people and still illustrate that there was no justification for this oppression. Only by appealing to white people, who held all the power, could change be forced through the political process. Adhering to St. Augustine’s contention that “an unjust law is no law at all”, King insisted that non-violent protests such as those he was organizing were not breaking the law but were instead adhering to a higher moral and ethical law.

The segregation laws were directly counter to the Supreme Court ruling regarding equality for people of color because they were applied only to black people. He argued that to break an unjust and immoral law is thus acting in a moral and just manner for the good of the community, especially if this can be completed in a peaceful, kindly manner. This, he argued, was a necessary action because the tension in the black community was continuing to build and would soon rage out of control into violent action.

Peaceful protest provided both the necessary outlet for these emotions as well as brought positive attention to the plight of his community. At the end of his letter, King criticizes the church leaders who have spoken against him. He points out how they have failed to service the needs of their congregations by expecting the negative energy they feel as a result of segregation to simply dissipate without any further action. Although he concedes the church has been successful in avoiding violence to this point, he also highlights that it is the church’s moral responsibility to provide them with a safe and effective outlet to reduce and possibly eliminate these conflicts.

Through every stage of his argument, King appeals to the morality of the situation to try to make his fellow ministers see reason in their decision to oppose the nonviolent actions King has been leading. It was only through this sort of action that the white population could be forced to negotiate better terms for the black man. In addition, he argues that it is not immoral to refuse to obey unjust laws. Finally, he indicates that the levels of frustration among the black community are reaching such proportions that something must be done now.