Letter Written By MLK From Birmingham City Jail, Alabama :: essays research papers

My Dear Fellow ClergymenWhile confined hither(predicate) in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my expose activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer reflection of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would carry little time for anything other than such correspondence in the go of the day, and I would support no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you ar men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms. I think I should indicate why I am here In Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in capital of Georgia, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the aluminium Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and monetary resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action design if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several(prenominal) members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. unexpended their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" removed beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I comp elled to carry the gospel of license beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must unceasingly respond to the Macedonian call for aid. Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable net of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.