Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail Research Paper

Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail - Research Paper Example Martin Luther King Junior crafted â€Å"Letter from Birmingham City Jail† as a response to eight local white clergymen who were against King’s non-violent protest and demanded an end to the protests for desegregation of stores, restrooms, and lunch counters (Eskew 56). The letter turned out to be the turning point of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama. King wanted racial equality and wanted to diminish segregation and discrimination and through this letter he tried to illustrate how much he wanted to diminish violence within the blacks and the whites including hatred and bloodshed directed towards the blacks. He began the letter by protesting the segregation that the clergymen were part of and that fueled the ever-longing tension between the blacks and whites (Carmichael and Charles 44). He also added that the clergy did not confront the issue as they were expected to. He further mentioned that he was disappointed with the Church as they had not supported him in his efforts towards racial equality and as such they had not lived up to what God desired of them. He kept reiterating the fact that the last thing he wanted was violence in the pursuit of racial equality and that he just wanted court rulings regarding the issue upheld and laws changed to ensure that racial equality is achieved. (Wilson 22). In the letter, King conveyed his disappointment with how white moderates were devoted to order rather than to justice. He thus hoped that the white moderates should understand that order exists for establishment of justice and that when it fails it blocks the social progress flow (King 30). He points out that the white moderates are exhibiting blindness; while they are acknowledging that there is need for maintaining law and order, they are promoting injustice by failing to recognize that by denying African Americans their civil rights (Ali-Dinar). He further argued that the white moderates have misinterpreted time by asserting that time cures al ills. He expressed his unhappiness with the white moderates who were situating themselves away from actively working for good although time is on their side. He thus urged more activists to engage in pursuing racial equality at that time rather than later. He said that â€Å"Now is the time† thereby urging more advocates for civil rights movement (King 45). The letter was the park of the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama. King made it clear that Birmingham was