Letter from Birmingham Jail

[bina@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

"[...] I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and
states.  I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what
happens in Birmingham.  Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"[...] You may well ask, "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.?
Isn't negotiation a better path?"  You are exactly right in your call for
negotiation.  Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action.  Non-violent
direct action seeks to create such a crisis and such tension, that a
community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront
the issue.  It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be
ignored."

"[...] We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily
given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

"[...] Actually, we who engage in non-violent direct action are not the
creators of tension.  We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension
that is already alive.  We bring it out in the open where it can be seen
and dealt with.  Like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is
covered up, but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the
natural medicines of air and light, injustice must likewise be exposed,
with all of the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human
consciousness and the air of national opinion, before it can be cured." 

"[...] Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.  The urge for
freedom will eventually come.  This is what has happened to the American
Negro.  Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom;
something without has reminded him that he can gain it.  Consciously and
unconsciously, he has been swept in by the Zeitgeist, the spirit of his
generation, and with his black brothers of Africa, and his brown and yellow
brothers of Asia, South America,and the Caribbean, he is moving with a
sense of cosmic urgency toward the promised land of justice.  Recognizing
this vital urge that has engulfed our community, one should readily
understand the public demonstrations. [...]"

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail", April
16, 1963 (USA).