An Influential Visionary
... here” (Perspectives 449). In this letter Martin Luther King, Jr. explains that in any nonviolent campaign, such as the one in this town, there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustice exists; negotiation; self-purification, and direct action, all of which were completed in Birmingham as mentioned in Beck’s article Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement (5). Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail, as referenced in the Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil-Rights Leader article by Robin Chew, conveys King’s philosophy of nonviolence in the following passages: You may well ask: Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path? You are quite right in calling for negotiation. In deed this is the very purpose of direct action. 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. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.... We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” (2) Dr. King tries to impress upon the clergymen to understand the legitimate and unavoidable impatience the black people of American were experiencing. In the article, Letter From Birmingham Jail, King emphasizes, “I would agree with St. Augustine ‘an unjust law is no law at all’” (Perspectives 452 & King 193). He goes on with, “A just law is a man made code that squares with moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with moral code” (Perspectives 452) and provides explicit interpretations of this statement. King believes that the white moderate shows more devotion to order than justice and that when law and order fail they hinder the flow of social progress. He comments that people who engage in nonviolent direct action are opening up tension as in his statement, “injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured” (Perspectives 454). Stressing these unfair man mad laws of segregation was an integral part of this superb letter. Before making the final point in the letter, Martin Luther King, Jr. attacks his disappointment of the church. He felt that if the white church were acting as an ally for the cause they would then support the civil rights movement. Instead, he found great opposition, refusals to understand the freedom movement and as put forth in the Letter From Birmingham Jail, many churches commenting “those are social issues with which the gospel has no real concern” (Perspectives 458). King continues, “I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggles in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom” (King 202). He staunchly believes that freedom would be won because the destiny of blacks was tied to the destiny of America. Once released from jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. continued his vigilance by convincing students to join the crusade for freedom. The introduction of these children brought about a new impact and the implication that the struggle needed to be victorious. Children knew the stakes they were fighting for and took delight in confusing the police in order for the demonstrations to take place. Although the youngsters went to jail in historic numbers, it did not stop the tremendous flow that continued to come forth every day. But with this flow came images of ugliness that America and the world viewed with disgust. Unfortunately, as documented in The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Police began using their clubs on marchers. Police dogs were turned on them. Water from powerful fire hoses knocked them to the ground” (2). Newspapers printed pictures of prostrate women with policemen bending over them with raised clubs, children marching up to dogs with bared fangs and of pressure hoses sweeping bodies into the streets. Some pictures, such as a dog leaping to the throat of a schoolboy, caused public outrage and fostered increased action from the federal government. Even with these violent actions from law officials, the protestors continued with courage and nonviolence in their plight. In time, after many demonstrations, arrests and violent attacks on blacks, an agreement was signed but did not miraculously desegregate or bring an end to the resistance. In August 1963, K...