“We are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely,” they wrote. The letter, written while King was in solitary confinement after being arrested for demonstrating against segregation in Alabama, is addressed to a handful of clergymen who had themselves written a letter to the local newspaper decrying his actions. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Many turns of phrase in Martin Luther King Jr.’s renowned 1963 “ Letter from Birmingham Jail” are familiar to Americans today:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |