In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, King writes, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garments of Destiny whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." What are the implications of this statement for all people in relation to social injustice? Kings also writes, "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute understanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." What does he mean by this? Do you agree with this statement?
In these quotations from his Letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King asserts the importance of standing up against all injustice, no matter what one's relation to the victim, and of doing so robustly, without constantly calling for moderation and compromise.
Expert Answers
At the beginning of his letter, Martin Luther King writes: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. At the end of the paragraph, King limits his... Start your 48-hour free trial to
unlock this answer and thousands more. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime. Already a member? Log in here. At the beginning of his letter, Martin Luther King writes: Injustice anywhere is
a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. At the end of the paragraph, King limits his remark, in this instance, to those who live in the United States. However, the general implications of King's remark for people in relation to social injustice are clear. A tribal sense of justice and loyalty, based on in-group altruism and out-group
hostility, is of no use. Those who object to injustice cannot fight it selectively. This is an easy statement with which to agree. If you think King is wrong, the strongest grounds on which to argue would be that injustice is so common that you have to be selective in fighting it. The second statement in the question comes from the middle of the letter: Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill
will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. This is the conclusion of a paragraph in which King says that the principal threat he is addressing is not the open and extreme racism of the Ku Klux Klan, but the timidity and compromise of the "white moderate." This is still a common complaint among social justice activists, who find qualified, tepid acceptance of the need for social justice more frustrating than outright opposition. You may wish to
argue that at least those whose acceptance is lukewarm have demonstrated that they are willing to listen, and they may be persuaded that a more robust attitude is required. Alternatively, activists who agree with King often say that the type of allies he describes are exactly the ones who slow the pace of change, allowing evil to triumph. Approved by eNotes Editorial TeamSee
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Letter from the Birmingham Jail Quotes
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Letter from the Birmingham Jail Quotes Showing 1-30 of 33
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed
with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct
action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“One has not only a legal, but a
moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”
― Martin Luther
King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. ”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“The early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles o popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and
racism to majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being 'disturbers of the peace' and 'outside agitators.' But they went on with the conviction that they were
a 'colony of heaven' and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be 'astronomically intimidated.' They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest. Things are different now. The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the archsupporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of
the average community is consoled by the Church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright
rejection.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with
all their scintillating beauty.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice
denied.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use
moral means to preserve immoral ends.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Anyone who lives inside the US can never be considered an outsider anywhere in the country”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative
peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute
misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the
open, where it can be seen and dealt with.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals
may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“All too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of
stained-glass windows”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good
people.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. This is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom; something without has reminded him that he can gain it.”
― Martin
Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice ― or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“the question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much much more effectively than the people of good will.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Before the pen of Jefferson etched the
majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation—and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail.”
― Martin
Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“History is the long and tragic story of the fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has
reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail
“. . . the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set
the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
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