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avicos 's review for:
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
by Martin Luther King Jr.
In these burning times, for the sake of my own sanity, I thought his words could help me. My rage burns as violently as the state of Minnesota, despite being thousands of miles away. A terrifying smirk crosses my face every time I see an update from there. My legs get fidgety. Maybe it’s common for men like me to perfectly fall into the Angry Young Man stereotype. Reason dictates that I shouldn’t encourage violent means to reach moral ends. Yet I can’t get myself to condemn or at the very least, not condone the riotous air currently taking over that state. I sense a righteousness in their actions. Maybe it’s more a sense of inevitability. These things were going to happen, in Minnesota or the greater world. What I find terrifying is that I feel right as rain as I see people, innocent or otherwise, being punished indiscriminately. I understand now why Martyrs tend to be so young.
Men like come to this historical document with a sense of urgency. They seek wisdom, a scheme for handling the oppression that still thrives long after his efforts have been relegated behind the creaky doors of history. He doesn’t give me that. He doesn’t tell how to divert this enraging emotion towards worthier tasks. Instead, in eloquent words, he writes like he is one person, one human being. In so doing, he reminds us young men like me that we too are merely one person, susceptible to all humans’ follies. Mainly, he reminds me of my own vanity in thinking I could do anything about anything all by myself. There is a humility that one can actively track throughout every single paragraph. He is justifying his own actions and not of the myriads of people who marched with him. He never once assumes that he has power over others, even though it is increasingly clear to the outside eye that he does have power over others. Leaders tend to think hierarchies are the only way to form a coalition. The vanity in such a position must be clear to even an untrained eye. MLK seems to have found a better approach. He builds the foundation that increases in area as his words are carried across the USA. A hierarchy is in shambles as soon as the leader is done, a foundation still maintains its footing. Any voice an speak up because essentially all voices are equal.
The very premise of this letter is enraging to me. He is writing from jail where he is held because he wanted his brothers and sisters to treat them as brothers and sisters. He is in jail for asking equality in what is supposedly the greatest democracy in the world. Nowhere in the letter does he ask others to be patient for change. But his patience can be seen through his actions though. The very idea of postponing the march because it might overshadow the coming election is bonkers to me. I could think that be the best time to disrupt things, but I guess that the difference between MLK and people like me. We are looking to disrupt while he is trying to create a dialogue. With any other person, one could disagree with the idea of postponing the march because of an election, but this is MLK we are talking about here. He is admittedly a man of great stature. We can’t help but stop and consider his viewpoint and in so doing, we see his reasons which are commendable.
Throughout the letter, he talks about how he was constantly disappointed with people not see the morality of the cause he is fighting for. He assumes the best in people and from there he stands disappointed. No matter how many times this happens, he continues to assume the best in people. He assumes that they are willing to fight along side him until it is proven otherwise.
Therein lies the difference between an activist like MLK and others. His activism isn’t for burning down the enemy, it is create a dialogue. Now, the other side isn’t always willing to come to the table for the dialogue. In such a case, his plan is to create a passive tension that discomforts the soul and not the body. A discomforted soul moves much quicker than a discomforted body for a position of comfort. He doesn’t get cynical like me and say that people are too dumb or too evil; that everything is hopeless.
Everything isn’t hopeless though. The last three days stand as proof for that. Now, you might not like the taste of this hope, but is it hope nonetheless. People aren’t too evil or too dumb. They are moving against their oppressors. What comes next depends on how long they are willing to hold out that hope.
Men like come to this historical document with a sense of urgency. They seek wisdom, a scheme for handling the oppression that still thrives long after his efforts have been relegated behind the creaky doors of history. He doesn’t give me that. He doesn’t tell how to divert this enraging emotion towards worthier tasks. Instead, in eloquent words, he writes like he is one person, one human being. In so doing, he reminds us young men like me that we too are merely one person, susceptible to all humans’ follies. Mainly, he reminds me of my own vanity in thinking I could do anything about anything all by myself. There is a humility that one can actively track throughout every single paragraph. He is justifying his own actions and not of the myriads of people who marched with him. He never once assumes that he has power over others, even though it is increasingly clear to the outside eye that he does have power over others. Leaders tend to think hierarchies are the only way to form a coalition. The vanity in such a position must be clear to even an untrained eye. MLK seems to have found a better approach. He builds the foundation that increases in area as his words are carried across the USA. A hierarchy is in shambles as soon as the leader is done, a foundation still maintains its footing. Any voice an speak up because essentially all voices are equal.
The very premise of this letter is enraging to me. He is writing from jail where he is held because he wanted his brothers and sisters to treat them as brothers and sisters. He is in jail for asking equality in what is supposedly the greatest democracy in the world. Nowhere in the letter does he ask others to be patient for change. But his patience can be seen through his actions though. The very idea of postponing the march because it might overshadow the coming election is bonkers to me. I could think that be the best time to disrupt things, but I guess that the difference between MLK and people like me. We are looking to disrupt while he is trying to create a dialogue. With any other person, one could disagree with the idea of postponing the march because of an election, but this is MLK we are talking about here. He is admittedly a man of great stature. We can’t help but stop and consider his viewpoint and in so doing, we see his reasons which are commendable.
Throughout the letter, he talks about how he was constantly disappointed with people not see the morality of the cause he is fighting for. He assumes the best in people and from there he stands disappointed. No matter how many times this happens, he continues to assume the best in people. He assumes that they are willing to fight along side him until it is proven otherwise.
Therein lies the difference between an activist like MLK and others. His activism isn’t for burning down the enemy, it is create a dialogue. Now, the other side isn’t always willing to come to the table for the dialogue. In such a case, his plan is to create a passive tension that discomforts the soul and not the body. A discomforted soul moves much quicker than a discomforted body for a position of comfort. He doesn’t get cynical like me and say that people are too dumb or too evil; that everything is hopeless.
Everything isn’t hopeless though. The last three days stand as proof for that. Now, you might not like the taste of this hope, but is it hope nonetheless. People aren’t too evil or too dumb. They are moving against their oppressors. What comes next depends on how long they are willing to hold out that hope.