In reading Reverend Martin Luther
King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, I’m struck at once by the
single-minded tenacity and the character of the man. His presence was that of a
charismatic preacher, yet his words are those of a thoughtful and learned
scholar. He was both of these things and more.
I often wonder when I read his words written
so many years ago about my own commitment to a cause greater than myself. It’s
the same whispering voice we all hear when we think of those who fled the
oppression of Nazi Germany in World War II. The question we all must face as we
look in the mirror. What is it? Where is my letter from Birmingham Jail?
In
his letter, Dr. King lays out in detail the problems he faces and, to a large
extent, the disappointment he feels from his own leaders in the black religious
community. But he doesn’t stop there. He calls out members of the religious
community in general, and all people who profess belief in change and action
for moderate protest. He lays out his case using descriptive phrases and impassioned writing that he was able to
draw from the depths of his soul. King also relied on the words and deeds of the
many great thinkers and philosophers who came before him to make his case.
All these things made the
most eloquent of cases to bolster his argument that the time for speeches was
long past, and the time for action was now. For these reasons, I am
moved by the “I Have a Dream” speech which came to represent so many things to
so many people over the years. But in his letter, written from Birmingham Jail,
I am elevated to a higher plane when reflecting on the anguish and torment
buried deep and yet resonating loudly through the passages of time. Here is a
man burdened with all that life may throw at you, as he sits imprisoned in a
Birmingham jail, and instead of resorting to violence and anger, he channels
his energies to create a charter for others to live and to die for.
Dr. King’s letter from Birmingham Jail not
only resonates down the passages of time, it soars to new heights in this age
of uncertainty and anger. It moves me even now, as I read it and listen to a
man passionately inspired to write:
“The
nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward gaining
political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward
gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who
have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you
have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your
sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse,
kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast
majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smoldering in an airtight cage
of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your
tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your
six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has
just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when
she is told that Funtown is
closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to
form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality
by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to
concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, ‘Daddy, why do white people treat colored
people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary
to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile
because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by
nagging signs reading “white”
and “colored”’ when your first
name becomes “nigger,” your
middle name becomes “boy”
(however old you are) and your last name becomes “John” and your wife and mother are never given the respected
title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that
you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what
to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when
you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “Nobody-ness”-then you will
understand why we find it difficult to wait.”
These powerful words were interspersed with
references from the apostle Paul to the theologian Paul Tillich, from the
philosopher Socrates to St. Augustine. Dr. King argued that “everything Adolf
Hitler did was legal” as a response to those questioning his civil disobedience
of unjust laws. Dr. King laid out a logical yet impassioned defense for all
those who might stand in his way or deter him from reaching his goals. To my
mind, this is the heart and soul of who this man was.
We should take to our hearts the passionate
spirit of his “I have a Dream” speech, but we should commit to read and to
adhere to the principles found in King’s letter from Birmingham Jail.
And above all, we should ask ourselves-where
is our letter? In our lives, what are we doing to commit to a
cause greater than ourselves? In the end, we all stand alone, and our actions
are judged as we leave this Earth by our legacy and commitment to those things
that cannot be tallied with the aid of a ledger or spreadsheet. It is what we
commit to believe in that envelops us from the depths of our soul and past the
limits of our bodies. That is the question to answer. What is it? Where
is your letter from Birmingham Jail?
