Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Why We Can’t Wait Published by: Beacon Press
Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. is often times referred to as the “founder” of the civil rights
movement. Contrary to this belief is the truth: Martin Luther King Jr. was born
into a generation brimming with segregation. However, his education was very
privileged, graduating from high school at age fifteen and attending Morehouse
College in Atlanta Georgia. Upon studying theology at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania for two years and
completing his graduate studies at Boston University, King had gained the
experience necessary for him to establish the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference as a Baptist minister.
King also wrote
several books, chronicling his experience as a civil rights leader: Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story; The Strength to Love; Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? The Trumpet of Conscience; A
Testament of Hope; and more notably, Why
We Can’t Wait—including the “Letter
from Birmingham Jail.”
The book Why We Can’t Wait illustrates, in
elegant prose, the necessity of revolution by means of nonviolent coercion. To
King nothing seemed more logical in the summer of 1963 than to combat hate with
love; violence, with non-violence; fear with courage. The reason the Blacks
couldn’t wait was because justice had been delayed, faith had been delayed.
Both nonviolent demonstration and Christian faith carried “Project C” into completion.
Indeed, King knew
what lay ahead: “mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake
a process of self-purification.” If anything is to be gained by this book, let
it be the notion that King understood the African American’s struggle as a
national struggle with no cline in skin color. The leaders in the Black
community sought to cleanse the country of all violence. It started with a “[…]
constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth” (88-89).
During the time of the SCLC’s planning of the crusade, the Commissioner
of Public Safety, “Bull” Connor, maintained Birmingham’s race relations. “Bull” Connor was notorious for racial
brutality and using officers to maintain local fear. It is this fear and injustice
that King and the SCLC planned to end. To the
surprise of many Bull Connor and his men were not violent towards Blacks for most
of "Project C."
Yes, nonviolent
demonstration prevailed against all opposition—violent or not. But it was by
faith that this demanding exercise was possible. Nonetheless, the civil rights
leaders soon joined their optimistic followers in the jail cells. And it was
during incarceration that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the famous “Letter from
Birmingham Jail,” expressing his reasons for action through faith.
The Negro, as King
saw it, required “self-purification” before any nonviolent movement would
occur. This self-purification process was a search of one’s soul, requiring a
volunteer of the nonviolent movement to adhere to “Ten Commandments” (69):
1.
Meditate daily on the teachings and life of
Jesus.
2.
Remember always that the nonviolent movement in
Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation—not victory.
3.
Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is
love.
4.
Pray daily to be used by God in order that all
men might be free.
5.
Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be
free.
6.
Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary
rules of courtesy.
7.
Seek to perform regular service for others and
for the world.
8.
Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or
heart.
9.
Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily
health.
10. Follow
the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.
Many of the
commandments observed here are clear Christian values. So before nonviolence
could be issued, the power, grace, and mercy of God was needed.
King was a Baptist
minister and civil rights leader in a time when White and Black churches stood
indifferent to the issue of race. Clearly his faith was a means for the cause. Therefore, “constructive nonviolence” is
established through courtesy towards friend or
foe through Christian faith. But why take immediate action?
If what King called “constructive”
tension existed, then there was surely “de-constructive” tension. For King,
de-constructive tension stemmed from 350 years of segregation, discrimination,
and racism—the Negro could no longer wait. But the goal of the demonstration
was deeper than the annals of history, thicker than a history book. The goal of
the demonstration was pacification and salvation of both the Whites and Blacks.
In what could be considered one of the most profound passages in the book, King
explained the goal of “Project C” in the simplest, most genial manner: “[…] it
served his need to act on his own for his own liberation. It enabled him to
transmute hatred into constructive energy, to seek not only to free himself but
to free his oppressor from his sins” (35). This is extremely radical. In these
sentences King explains why the Negro couldn’t wait. Because demonstrating
love, mercy and kindness, even in the face of persecution and despair, is not
about physical freedom, but spiritual freedom. Immediate action came with a
spiritual force that essentially shook the people of Alabama awake and demanded
repentance, gradual, as it would be.
King equated White
oppressors to the Romans who persecuted Christians: “The religious tradition of
the Negro had shown him that the nonviolent resistance of the early Christians
had constituted a moral offensive of such overriding power that it shook the
Roman Empire” (33). Congruence is illustrated very easily. Birmingham was the
Roman Empire, persecuting Blacks despite laws and government mandates. Through
an act of morality, righteousness, and nonviolent resistance, we again see how Blacks
“shook” the empire in a way not understood by the world.
Taking the baton
from the hands of many Blacks before him, King continued to pave the road to
freedom in a time when changes had already occurred. But the road to freedom,
for many, was still long. King’s Christian tact shined in the face of black
indifference, white dominance, and global despair. In the summer of 1963, a Black
Baptist minister would finally apply the force of love and non-violence to open
the clenched fist of oppression.
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