Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
[ Excerpts ]
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am
sorry to
say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the
demonstrations. I am
sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social
analysis that deals
merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that
demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the
city's white
power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.
In any 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
these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice
engulfs this
community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United
States. Its ugly
record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in
the courts.
There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in
any
other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of
these conditions,
Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently
refused to engage
in good faith negotiation.
Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's
economic
community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the
merchants--for
example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises,
the Reverend
Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
agreed to a
moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we
were the
victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.
As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep
disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action,
whereby
we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of
the local and
the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a
process of self
purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked
ourselves: "Are
you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of
jail?" We decided
to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for
Christmas, this is
the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal program
would be
the by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring
pressure to bear on
the merchants for the needed change [...]
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't
negotiation a
better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very
purpose of direct
action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension
that a
community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It
seeks so to
dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as
part of the
work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am
not afraid of
the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of
constructive,
nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was
necessary to create a
tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half
truths to the
unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for
nonviolent
gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark
depths of
prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it
will
inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for
negotiation. Too
long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue
rather than
dialogue.
One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates
have
taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city
administration
time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham
administration
must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly
mistaken if we
feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to
Birmingham. While Mr.
Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists,
dedicated to
maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to
see the
futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure
from devotees
of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in
civil rights without
determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that
privileged groups
seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and
voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups
tend to be more immoral than
individuals.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the
oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action
campaign that
was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of
segregation.
For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with
piercing familiarity.
This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our
distinguished
jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."
4 comments:
WHY ARE WE STILL WAITING?
CNRP leaders should be inspired from this noteworthy excerpt:
-An historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.
-We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed"
-WAIT" has almost always meant "NEVER." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "JUSTICE TOO LONG DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED."
The exasperating non stop calls (and no actions taken) from SAM RAINSY (anyway he is safe in the USA) and KEM SOKHA for all Khmer support are the sign of their lack of leadership, their weakness, their fear, their hesitance, while Khmer people are more brave, more bold, resolute to defend their country, their right.
Don't wait them anymore! It's time to take action before being hunted and Killed like the late SAN SOEUNG
Waited too long an too late...old people to stupid..an the young are not smart enough..
Obama administration negotiating ‘something for nothing’ with dictatorship
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