Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did

That's the title of the article.


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You can read the full article in all its splendor here .

Being a young adult of African descent who lived most of his life in the south its rather difficult to see MLK in any other way than what the article describes him as doing. But unfortunately, my generation and those now following are viewing him less and less until all he did WAS march. Nowadays most black-americans (since we HAVE to use some sort of term to make EVERYBODY in America different) only even bring MLK up when they gripe about racism, and dishonor his name.(In my 20 years of experience with "my" people) So again, it is really refreshing to get on here and see your topic thread and read the article that you linked.

Then again, I don't think that he primarily belongs to blacks, he belongs to nobody but the world. He helped change so many things and helped make life in America better and, helped other minorities find their voice. He was a teacher and leader, and that's how I truly hope he is remembered.

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL (excerpt)

Martin Luther King

April 16, 1963

My Dear Fellow Clergymen,

“…You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may want to ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an I-it relationship for an I-thou relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and awful. Paul Tillich said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to (understand) the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake…
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was 'legal' and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was 'illegal'. It was 'illegal' to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws…”

I just add that to face the worst
and take the beating
and sing our freedom song
is the way to freedom for all of us

Thank You Dr. King.

Thanks Jamie! Never thought about it like that

Best stuff I read all day

Master Alan, Jamie, thanks for helping keep it all rooted

Maybe it's because I grew up in the South? But that others don't see him as having done all of what is in this article- that's saddening. I mean, MLK's life and what he did for African Americans rings so far that I once met a school teacher in Japan (she was Japanese herself) that taught English by having her students memorize and recite "I Have a Dream", she talked extensively as to how inspiring Martin Luther King is and that she tries to pass that inspiration on to her ELEMENTARY students.

i put a quote from dr king in almost every one of my papers in grad school. big fan. 'if you cant say it better, then steal from the best' kind of thing.