Devin Whitworth

Reflection journal 18
Letter From Birmingham
Did Martin Luther King Believe That Violence Should Ever Be
Used to Combat Racial Inequality?
Martin Luther King was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Both His
grandfather and his father served as pastors at the Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Atlanta. He attended segregated schools, and then
Morehouse College. He acquired a divinity degree from a seminary. He
had already become active in the civil rights movement by this time.
King lead a bus boycott in 1955, which resulted in the Supreme
Court ruling that segregation on buses is illegal. In 1957 MLK was
elected President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an
organization that used principles derived from Thoreau and Gandhis
civil disobedience writings. He expanded on these ideas, as he
provided new leadership for the civil rights movement. He made
thousands of appearances, and wrote numerous articles and five books
protesting injustice and demanding action. In Kings lengthy and
specific letter from Birmingham, a response to a published statement,
it is obvious that while King had a dream of seeing all men treated
equally, he would insist on non-violent activities to pursue this goal.
In his letter King cites several biblical examples of non-violent
persons pursuing a just cause. One such example he listed was that of
the Apostle Paul, who left his village and carried the gospel to nearly

every city in the Graeco-Roman world. Dr King said, likening himself to

Paul, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my
particular home town. Certainly both the ancient apostle, and Dr.
King delivered strongly their messages, but without violence.
In another portion of his Birmingham Letter MLK actually lists the
four steps to any non-violent campaign. He says that 1) collection of
the facts to determine whether injustices are alive; 2) negotiation: 3)
self-purification; and 4) direct action, must be incorporated in any
campaign.
Throughout the remainder of his letter, MLK describes his belief
that equality could be attained, and his sincere desire that it should be
accomplished with persuasive conversations, peaceful demonstrations,
and people coming together. He said, A few years ago we were greatly
concerned about the Ugly American. Today we must act to prevent an
ugly America. He did help prevent an ugly America. He peacefully
spent most of his adult life peacefully going about promoting fairness
and equality. He lost his life to the violence that he clearly (as spelled
out in the Birmingham Letter) abhorred.