Echoes From A Birmingham Jail (Part One)
by: Stuffed Animal
Wed Dec 31, 2008 at 10:48:58 AM EST
http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8866Martin Luther King, Jr.'s April 1963 Letter From A Birmingham Jail is one of the defining documents of the American anti-segregation movement. Just about anybody who was alive in the early 1960s has heard of it. Dr. King wrote the Letter during a period of incarceration in Birmingham, Alabama. This was one of numerous occasions when civil disobedience on behalf of racial equality landed him behind bars. If the work MLK put into his Birmingham Jail essay is any indication, he certainly used his time in lock-up constructively. It was written in response to a public statement by eight White Alabama clergymen who opposed the confrontational tactics he used. They'd denounced him for leading street demonstrations, and argued that other, less disruptive means should be used to combat institutionalized racism.
It should come as no surprise that Dr. King's oratory was no less powerful on paper than it was in the pulpit. After publication in the 12 June 1963 edition of The Christian Century, his response stirred such a strong reaction that it was distributed more widely. Most people read the text when the Atlantic Monthly reprinted it later that month. The following year, the Birmingham Jail Letter became the centerpiece of Dr. King's bestselling book Why We Can't Wait.
Since the passage of Proposition 8 in California, and media stories about Black Californians supporting the measure by huge margins, an old debate has flared up again: Are Gay Rights Civil Rights? Are Gay activists being arrogant when they say so? And is it wrong to expect President-Elect Barack Obama, an African-American, to identify with LGBT citizens fighting separate-but-equal provisions?
