The Quote from the King
Martin Luther King, a man with a history of peaceful protest for racial equality, was thrown in jail without resistance for not having a parade permit. Though King tried not once but twice to obtain a permit to parade, he was denied both times, but that did not stop him. He protested anyway because he felt it was his duty to fight for what he believed was right. Why did King think that it was alright to break this law? Should not all laws be respected and obeyed? Should one ask himself which laws they should obey and which ones they should not? Or should one ask how they can respect anything without first respecting their own morals? King believed in two types of laws, just laws and unjust laws. Some laws were made to protect the oppressed, while others were made in the interest of the oppressor. King believed that an unjust law was no law at all and so it would be impossible to break them. At any rate, he accepted his punishment and without resentment, wrote “The Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In this letter, King said, “...freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” What King wrote makes sense. One should not sit around and wait for their rights to be handed to them by a person with an unwavering glare. If you want to escape the grasp of your oppressor, you must fight for it by any means possible. Actions are louder than words, and actions of nonviolent disobedience to fight for what one believes in, louder still.
Martin Luther King says, “...freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor...” Freedom is never voluntarily given, but it is given if one is willing to fight for it. Not all fighting is physical. Sometimes physical violence is not the best way to accomplish a goal, as violence only incites more violence. King decides to fight with his words in a respectful tone of voice as he writes his letter. The words he uses give the reader a gentle handshake as he starts, “I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” Then King puts a comforting arm around the reader and leads them onto a path of enlightenment as he explains who he is at heart and why he did what he did saying, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” and that he was “in Birmingham because the is injustice here.” Once his audience was more enlightened, King then explains his nonviolent campaign.
“There are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self- purification; and direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community” (“The Letter of Birmingham Jail” paragraph 5).
King said that some people asked him, “Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?” King then goes on to saying that “the administration must be prodded just as much as the outgoing one, before it will act.” King didn't sit around and wait for his Rights to be handed to him by his oppressors. He fought. He made a campaign. He dug, poked, and prodded until he got results. He demanded freedom from his Oppressor and he did it with respect instead of violence and that is why I feel his statement, “...freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” so compelling.
As well as adding emphasis to his letter, King's quote adds to its rhetorical effectiveness as well. He writes this letter with a goal to make the reader understand where he stands on the issue of racial equality and to make them understand why he did not just 'wait' until the time where the oppressors would discuss the issue. I believe that the most compelling part of the letter was when King says:
“Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, “Wait”. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people...” (“The Letter from Birmingham Jail” paragraph 14).
King said this to emphasize the sting that is felt when the oppressor tells the oppressed to “wait”. But when waiting causes an unconscious feeling of inferiority, is it better to wait for a desired outcome? Is it better to wait if the result causes a permanent rift between blacks and whites so that even when equality is reached there is still a feeling uneasiness between races? One should not rely on the ideal that things will happen in time. They must seize every opportunity to fight for their freedom and demand their rights. If King did not demand his rights, if King did not fight for his freedom, if King just sat around and “waited” then we might be waiting still.
Kings quote, “...freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” is something that sticks with the reader. It gives them a new perspective on things. It incites them to ask questions. It compels them to wonder. It makes them to act. Perhaps if everyone fought for equality instead of sitting around waiting, then people could reach a mutual understanding of one another. Maybe then, we could finally live in a world of peaceful interaction. If we all followed Martin Luther King's ideal then perhaps we could build a colorblind community, a colorblind nation, and a colorblind world.
