Letter from Birmingham Jail-Martin Luther King全文.docVIP

Keep your patience and read on. I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from Martin Luther King. Background: King organized demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Then King was arrested, and while he was in jail, eight white Alabama clergymen issued a public statement deploring the demonstrations as “unwise and untimely”. King thus wrote a letter to respond. Contents P1-P2 the public statementwritten by eight Alabama clergymen P3-the end King’s responding letter The following is the public statementdirected to Martin Luther King, Jr., by eight Alabama clergymen We the undersigned clergymen are among those who, in January, issued an appeal for law and order and common sense, in dealing with racial problems in Alabama. We expressed understanding that honest convictions in racial matters could properly be pursued in the courts, but urged that decisions of those courts should in the meantime be peacefully obeyed. Since that time there had been some evidence of increased forbearance and a willingness to face facts. Responsible citizens have undertaken to work on various problems which cause racial friction and unrest. In Birmingham, recent public events have given indication that we all have opportunity for a new constructive and realistic approach to racial problems. However, we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders. We recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. But we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely. We agree rather with certain local Negro leadership which has called for honest and open negotiation of racial issues in our area. And we believe this kind of facing of issues can best be accomplished by citizens of our own metropolitan area, white and Negro, meeting with their knowledge and experience of the local situation. All of us need to face that responsibility and find proper channels f