Birmingham essays

Birmingham essays Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this letter while imprisoned at the Birmingham city jail. I think in this letter Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to explain why he does all the things he do like marches, sit-ins, etc. He does all this trying to get freedom for blacks because it is about time they got it. Martin Luther King Jr. says that those are the only ways Blacks can gain their freedom. Birmingham city gave them no choice. He says the freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, the oppressed must fight to get it. (Letter from Birmingham 98). Blacks had to take direct action; they had always been told they have to wait. Well, quite frankly they could not wait anymore. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, wait basically mean the same thing as never. I think civil disobedience at that time was justifiable. An important point Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made was that Blacks have waited too long to receive freedom that is promised in the constitution and that is God-given. Therefore it was time to take action; black people tried negotiating with the city, but the community continually refused to negotiate and so that never worked. So, the Blacks had to take matters into their own hands. That is why they carried out sit-ins and marches and so forth. They could no longer wait and think time would ultimately give to them their rights. I agree with Dr. King. After a certain amount of time, all this mis-treatment cannot be endured anymore. African-Americans were bound to retaliate. After a while, the people would desire freedom and do anything to get it. I think Martin Luther King Jr. was justified in doing all the things he did and this letter was his attempt to explain to people why his actions are justified since everyone else was saying his actions were unwise and untimely. Civil disobedience had to occur to change things or else Blacks might still be going through all these things today. ...