Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr's Letter From Birmingham Jair

This paper will explore the topic of the silent majority brought up by Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail in order to explore the similarity in todays Black Lives Matter movement. This paper will address three main topics, white moderates, misconception of time, and nonviolence protest. The objective is to relate the civil rights movement and black lives matter movement to see differences and similarities faced by both movements. Half way through Martin Luther King Jrs. letter he address the white moderates who agreed with the what the civil rights movement was founded upon yet did nothing to fight the injustice opposed upon Negros. All white moderates of this time had no first hand experience of ever being on the colored side of segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. alludes to this on page two when he addresses all the obstacles he faced as a black man. Most of injustice and racism comes from people not

organized rallies. They did not agree with his methods of direct action or the timing of his rallies. The fact that King addressed the issues straight on scared many white moderates. At the bottom of page three King states, “ in your statement you asserted that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence.” It is not reasonable to blame those who are peacefully protesting for their human rights. The reason his rallies would turn violent is because white people felt offended that colored people thought they deserved to be treated equally. Martin Luther King Jr. agrees whole heartedly that violent tension between whites and colored people would get nothing done. But with out “nonviolent tension” the civil rights movement would have gone nowhere. There needed to be a tension in order for white people to face the truth of the unjust laws that colored people had to live