Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.] (2024)

16 April 1963
My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statementcallingmy present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of mywork andideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries wouldhave little timefor anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have notime forconstructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that yourcriticisms aresincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patientandreasonable terms.

I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influencedby theview which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as presidentof theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southernstate, withheadquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations acrossthe South,and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we sharestaff,educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliatehere inBirmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if suchweredeemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise.So I,along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am herebecause I haveorganizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophetsof theeighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyondthe boundariesof their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carriedthe gospel ofJesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry thegospel offreedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedoniancall foraid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. Icannot sit idlyby in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere isa threatto justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in asingle garmentof destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can weafford to live withthe narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United Statescan never beconsidered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I amsorry tosay, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about thedemonstrations. I amsure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of socialanalysis that dealsmerely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate thatdemonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that thecity's whitepower structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts todeterminewhether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gonethrough allthese steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injusticeengulfs thiscommunity. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the UnitedStates. Its uglyrecord of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment inthe courts.There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than inanyother city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis ofthese conditions,Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistentlyrefused to engagein good faith negotiation.

Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham'seconomiccommunity. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by themerchants--forexample, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises,the ReverendFred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rightsagreed to amoratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that wewere thevictims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deepdisappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action,wherebywe would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience ofthe local andthe national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake aprocess of selfpurification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly askedourselves: "Areyou able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal ofjail?" We decidedto schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except forChristmas, this isthe main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal programwould bethe by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bringpressure to bear onthe merchants for the needed change.

Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March, andwespeedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that theCommissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be inthe run off,we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that thedemonstrations couldnot be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated,and to thisend we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, wefeltthat our direct action program could be delayed no longer.

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn'tnegotiation abetter path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the verypurpose of directaction. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tensionthat acommunity which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. Itseeks so todramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension aspart of thework of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I amnot afraid ofthe word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type ofconstructive,nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it wasnecessary to create atension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and halftruths to theunfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need fornonviolentgadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the darkdepths ofprejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that itwillinevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call fornegotiation. Toolong has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologuerather thandialogue.

One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associateshavetaken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new cityadministrationtime to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birminghamadministrationmust be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadlymistaken if wefeel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium toBirmingham. While Mr.Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists,dedicated tomaintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough tosee thefutility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressurefrom devoteesof civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain incivil rights withoutdetermined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact thatprivileged groupsseldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light andvoluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groupstend to be more immoral thanindividuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by theoppressor;it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct actioncampaign thatwas "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease ofsegregation.For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro withpiercing familiarity.This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of ourdistinguishedjurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. Thenations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining politicalindependence, butwe still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.Perhaps it iseasy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." Butwhen you haveseen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters andbrothers at whim;when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers andsisters;when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in anairtight cageof poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twistedand yourspeech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go tothe publicamusem*nt park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up inher eyes whenshe is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds ofinferiority beginningto form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality bydeveloping anunconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a fiveyear oldson who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when youtake across county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortablecorners of yourautomobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out bynagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigg*r," yourmiddlename becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wifeandmother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and hauntedby nightby the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowingwhat toexpect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are foreverfighting adegenerating sense of "nobodiness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult towait. Therecomes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to beplunged intothe abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidableimpatience.You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainlyalegitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court'sdecision of 1954outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem ratherparadoxical for usconsciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws andobeyingothers?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. Iwould be the firstto advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obeyjust laws.Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St.Augustinethat "an unjust law is no law at all."

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law isjustor unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law ofGod. An unjustlaw is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St.Thomas Aquinas:An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any lawthat upliftshuman personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. Allsegregation statutesare unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives thesegregatora false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation,to use theterminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship foran "I thou"relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation isnot onlypolitically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. PaulTillich has saidthat sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragicseparation, his awfulestrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954decision of theSupreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregationordinances, for theyare morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is acode that anumerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not makebinding onitself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that amajority compels aminority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, asa result ofbeing denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can saythat thelegislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democraticallyelected?Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becomingregistered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute amajority ofthe population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under suchcirc*mstances beconsidered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I havebeenarrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in havinganordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust whenit is usedto maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peacefulassembly andprotest.

I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do Iadvocateevading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy.One whobreaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept thepenalty. Isubmit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and whowillinglyaccepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the communityover itsinjustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidencedsublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws ofNebuchadnezzar, onthe ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the earlyChristians, whowere willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather thansubmit tocertain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality todaybecauseSocrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party representeda massiveact of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" andeverythingthe Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid andcomfort a Jew inHitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I wouldhave aided andcomforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certainprinciples dear tothe Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country'santireligiouslaws.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, Imustconfess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the whitemoderate. I havealmost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in hisstride towardfreedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the whitemoderate, who ismore devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absenceof tensionto a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree withyou in the goalyou seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalisticallybelieves he canset the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time andwhoconstantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understandingfrompeople of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of illwill.Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for thepurpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become thedangerouslystructured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the whitemoderate wouldunderstand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transitionfrom anobnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to asubstantiveand positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of humanpersonality. Actually,we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bringto thesurface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where itcan be seen anddealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must beopened with allits ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, withall the tension itsexposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion beforeit can becured.

In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemnedbecause they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this likecondemning a robbedman because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this likecondemningSocrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiriesprecipitated theact by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this likecondemningJesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's willprecipitatedthe evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts haveconsistently affirmed,it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutionalrights because thequest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relationtothe struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. Hewrites: "AllChristians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it ispossible that youare in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years toaccomplishwhat it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stemsfrom a tragicmisconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in thevery flow oftime that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be usedeither destructively orconstructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much moreeffectivelythan have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merelyfor the hatefulwords and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.Humanprogress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless effortsof men willing tobe co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of theforces of socialstagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe todo right.Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending nationalelegy intoa creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from thequicksand of racialinjustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointedthatfellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I beganthinking about thefact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is aforce ofcomplacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, areso drainedof self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; andin part of afew middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security andbecausein some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of themasses. Theother force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It isexpressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation,the largestand best known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro'sfrustrationover the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of peoplewho havelost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concludedthat thewhite man is an incorrigible "devil."

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the"donothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. Forthere is themore excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through theinfluence ofthe Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I amconvinced,be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as"rabblerousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and ifthey refuse tosupport our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair,seek solace andsecurity in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to afrighteningracial nightmare.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventuallymanifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something withinhasreminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that itcan begained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with hisblackbrothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and theCaribbean, theUnited States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land ofracialjustice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, oneshould readilyunderstand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent upresentmentsand latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayerpilgrimagesto the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. Ifhis repressedemotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence;this is not athreat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of yourdiscontent." Rather, I havetried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creativeoutlet ofnonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as Icontinued tothink about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Wasnot Jesus anextremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them thathate you, andpray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremistfor justice:"Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was notPaul anextremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Wasnot MartinLuther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And JohnBunyan: "I willstay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And AbrahamLincoln:"This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We holdthese truths tobe self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether wewill beextremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or forlove? Will we beextremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In thatdramatic scene onCalvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three werecrucified for the samecrime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell belowtheirenvironment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, andthereby roseabove his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need ofcreativeextremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic;perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of theoppressorrace can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, andstill fewerhave the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent anddetermined action. Iam thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped themeaning of thissocial revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity,but they are bigin quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs,Ann Bradenand Sarah Patton Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms.Othershave marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy,roachinfested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirtynigg*r-lovers."Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency ofthemoment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease ofsegregation.Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointedwiththe white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I amnot unmindfulof the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commendyou, ReverendStallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to yourworship serviceon a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integratingSpring HillCollege several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have beendisappointedwith the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always findsomethingwrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; whowas nurturedin its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain trueto it as long asthe cord of life shall lengthen.

When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery,Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt thatthe whiteministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead,some havebeen outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresentingitsleaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remainedsilentbehind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the whitereligiousleadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moralconcern, wouldserve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. Ihad hopedthat each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to complywith adesegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministersdeclare:"Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is yourbrother." In themidst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen standon thesideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of amightystruggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministerssay: "Those aresocial issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched manychurches committhemselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblicaldistinctionbetween body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.

I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the othersouthernstates. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South'sbeautifulchurches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressiveoutlines of hermassive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "Whatkind of peopleworship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnettdrippedwith words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gavea clarioncall for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and wearyNegro menand women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills ofcreativeprotest?"

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over thelaxity ofthe church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deepdisappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I dootherwise? I am inthe rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson ofpreachers. Yes, Isee the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that bodythroughsocial neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the earlyChristiansrejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the churchwas notmerely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was athermostatthat transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, thepeople inpower became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being"disturbers of thepeace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction thatthey were "acolony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big incommitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By theireffort andexample they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorialcontests.Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voicewithan uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from beingdisturbed by thepresence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by thechurch'ssilent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does notrecapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity,forfeit the loyalty ofmillions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentiethcentury.Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned intooutrightdisgust.

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricablybound tothe status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the innerspiritualchurch, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. Butagain I amthankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have brokenloose fromthe paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle forfreedom. Theyhave left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us.They havegone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone tojail withus. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishopsand fellowministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than eviltriumphant. Theirwitness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel inthese troubledtimes. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even ifthechurch does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have nofear about theoutcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood.We willreach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal ofAmerica isfreedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America'sdestiny. Beforethe pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched themajestic wordsof the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For morethan twocenturies our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; theybuilt thehomes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yetout of abottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible crueltiesof slavery couldnot stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom becausethe sacredheritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that hastroubledme profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and"preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force ifyou hadseen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you wouldso quicklycommend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroesherein the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negrogirls; ifyou were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observethem, asthey did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our gracetogether. Icannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling thedemonstrators. Inthis sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for whatpurpose? Topreserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistentlypreached thatnonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I havetried tomake clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I mustaffirm that it isjust as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.Perhaps Mr.Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett inAlbany,Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end ofracialinjustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To dothe right deed forthe wrong reason."

I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for theirsublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst ofgreatprovocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the JamesMerediths, withthe noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and withtheagonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old,oppressed, batteredNegro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who roseupwith a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and whor*spondedwith ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired,but mysoul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the youngministers of thegospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunchcounters andwillingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when thesedisinheritedchildren of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what isbest in theAmerican dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo Christian heritage, therebybringing ournation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathersin theirformulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to takeyour precioustime. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from acomfortabledesk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than writelong letters,think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates anunreasonableimpatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truthand indicates myhaving a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg Godto forgiveme.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circ*mstances willsoon make itpossible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader butas a fellowclergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racialprejudice will soonpass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenchedcommunities,and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shineover ourgreat nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,Martin Luther King, Jr.
Published in:
King, Martin Luther Jr.

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