After being arrested for a peaceful protest in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from his jail cell in response to the crticisms of his actions made by Southern Ministers. His excuse for being in Birmingham he said, was that he was asked to take part in a peaceful protest by the Birmingham chapter of the Southern Christain Leadership Conference and that he felt standing by idly while injustices occurred in Birmingham was wrong. Dr. King then explained that he was not in fault for being in jail and that he followed all the necessary steps toward peaceful protest. He collected facts to determine injustice, tried to negotiate and then made a peaceful protest. Dr. King also claimed that the only way the white leaders would come back to their broken promises is through peaceful protests. Otherwise, He argued, the oppressed's right will never be granted. Afterwards, Dr. King justified the protester's actions by explaining the two types of laws. The two types of laws, he explained, were unjust and just. Dr. King argued that every person has the moral obligation to follow the just laws and stand up to the unjust ones. The just ones will strictly follow God's law and the moral law while the unjust ones will not. Lastly, Dr. King admitted that those who standup to the unjust laws must be willing to accept the consequences.
Then, Dr. King began his explanation of his disliking of the white moderate. the white moderate, he explained, was the person who preferred order in society more than justice. The white moderate acknowledged unjustices proclaimed by the protesters, but were against the protests themselves because they disrupted order. Dr. King described this group as "the Negro's great stumbling block" in the journey towards social justice.Also, Dr. King spoke out against the lack of support from the churches. They didnt question the morality of desegregation like they should have, Dr. King thought.
Lastly, Dr. King described the two halves of the black community. There was the complacent side, he explained, and the bitter side. Dr. King described the complacent side as the blacks who had been oppressed for so long that they had given up the fight for justice. The bitter side, are the blacks who were starting to display "ad hominem" in that instead of speaking out against the law, they were speaking out against whites. From the bitter side, came violence, Dr. King argued. What Dr. King wanted was somewhere in the middle of complacency and violence; alot more adamant than complacency, but not violent.
In my opinion, the views of Dr. King on protests were I thought should have been the status quo the whole time. His call to bring the black community to the middle ground between compacency and violent is what I think should be the basis for all social problems. Also, I was surprised to read that the church was not taking an active role in the protests. I had heard of some priests becoming part of the protests and had just assumed that the whole church was involved. Lastly, I think its interesting that his interpretation of just and unjust laws is so very similar to what Catholics are called to do when facing sin. Just like it is a sin for Christians to stand idle and let a sin happen, it is wrong for everyone to sit idly and watch social injustices occur.