Dr. King's Fight with Words

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" - Dr. King

During a protest in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, Dr. King was arrested for 24-hours.  During that time, he wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in response to a statement that was made by local clergymen that questioned his methods.

Within Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, he explained the four steps of nonviolent protest which are: fact finding, negotiation, purification, and direct action.  When he talked about finding facts to determine whether injustice exists or not, King points out that Whites won't even own up to what they did and all of its darkness.  With that in mind, he said that the African Americans tried to negotiate with the "city fathers" however, they refused to interact in negotiation.  On the terms of self-purification, King stated that one needed to be mentally strong and not break out into physical violence when faced with physical violence.  And lastly, King mentioned, "Nonviolent direct actions seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue".  He also stated that it not only his, but everyone's moral duty to fight for freedom.

After reading Dr. King's letter, I was taken back with such great emotion and fear that an individual could do something like this to another individual and not feel a ounce of remorse or guilt.  And those who tried to help were punished as well as those who were the victim.  Also, I don't understand how many individuals who knew that what was going on was unjustified and yet they didn't do anything to stop the progression of the horrible act.