Dr. King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a letter written by Dr. King in 1963, that was addressed to several clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing the actions of Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during their protests in Birmingham. Dr. King tells the clergymen that he was unhappy about their statements and criticisms, and that he wishes to address their concerns. Dr. King was arrested and sent to jail for protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King was disappointed with the clergymen in the South, who supposedly believed in his cause but didn't like the "tension" and “uneasiness” caused by the protests. Dr. King follows up by making a profound point, that how without tension, there would never be a push, to make a change for anything. Dr. King makes various points as to why protesting is sometimes necessary, and this is an excellent one. After more than fifty years later I believe that what Dr. King was writing about still is an issue today. I wish I could say that racism wasn’t an issue today, but unfortunately, I cannot. Protests are another action that still occurs today that Dr. King was speaking about. People feel they must do something and be heard, so they act and protest their beliefs, sometimes more violently than others. In example, some protests turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. As white supremacists clashed with counter protesters, they a car drove into the crowd of anti-racist and anti-fascist protesters and killed a few people, while injuring many others. This is just one example of how racism and protesting is still a big issue today in 2017. (Maggie Astor) I as a white woman may not specifically know the pain and misfortunes specific to Dr. King and other black individuals, but as a woman, I do feel I have seen and even felt oppression in some ways. I could relate to the letter written by Dr. King in some ways personally, comparing to women’s oppression. Women today are still oppressed in multiple ways, and yet as a society, we turn a blind eye to the oppression that physically and emotionally harm women as a gender and as individuals. Not only are women financially oppressed, women are also socially and sexually oppressed. In 2012, statistics from …show more content…
King was trying to say in his letter is still very important today. My favorite part of the letter was when he says, “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” I couldn’t agree with this more. What I took from this was that we must work together to succeed at all in anything. Dr. King finishes the paragraph by saying, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (659). I like this quote because it seems so obvious, but it still happens every day. If we thought before we reacted, maybe less people could be effected by the actions made by others. If we worked more as one, we could accomplish so much more. I think this letter is still important today because there is still racism, segregation, and injustice. If we could hear what Dr. King was trying to tell us in this letter, maybe we could work together and live in a just America. Maybe we could live in a world with less hate and more friendship. Maybe there wouldn’t have to be direct action in protesting and people trying to make a bold statement if we could just live united, as our country motto