13 Replies to “Week 11 – Black Freedom Movement”

  1. According to “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” by Martin Luther king Jr. it says”
    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.” I choose this quote because the government is promising things that will never happen. African Americans are waiting for justice to be made and for them to be treated equally but the promises are not being made they have to fight for them. Martin Luther King don’t want them to wait for it.

  2. “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”

    In this letter, M.L.K. He tells us about many problems and feelings that he feels as a citizen and part of the black community. One of them is his hope to see that the world changes its way of seeing others and we put aside prejudices and begin to accept and respect people for what they are internally and not for their outside. This letter is a cry for freedom and social justice and as he established not only that civil disobedience was justified in the face of unjust laws, but that “one has the moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

  3. I chose this quote,” 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 ccity fsthers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation” because Martin luther King is saying that the city of Birmingham was totally segregated meaning that blacks and white had to separate in many things. Such as schools, parks, and many other public places. More privileges and advantages were given to the white people only. Even though, white and black people had separate places still only white people were given the importance and they had superior things than black people. Also, he said that his community and himself had tried to discuss and solve the problems with the leaders of the town of Birmingham however they refused to talk and no action was taken by them as they had stated the “separate but equal” concept . So, they were left with no other choice but to protest and demonstrate against segregation in Birmingham.

  4. “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 there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.”

    This quote is significant because it shows how to pursued change for an issue to become so intense that the people cannot look the other way. I thought this was important because a lot of the issues society has faced throughout time are issues that have often been ignored and overlooked, but once a constructive nonviolent tension increases to a certain point that the issue can’t be overlooked which is why this kind of tension is absolutely necessary it provokes people to acknowledge, start thinking, and to begin a discussion which can then lead to change.

  5. In the letter of M.L.K. ” A five year old son who is asking: “Daddy , why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; I chose this quote of M.L.K because even an innocent child wonders that why people are being treated by their skin color? Why do white people have all the rights than other skin colors people.

  6. According to “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” by Martin Luther king Jr. it says that “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.” The reason why I had picked this quote because Martin Luther King had said that the city was being segregated between the whites and black and they had to be separated. It also shows that the whites had more power and control.

  7. In the “Latter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther king said, “Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham’s economic community. In the course of the negotiation, certain promises were made by the merchants- for example, to remove the stores humiliating racial sings. 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 sings, briefly removed; the others remained”. This shows how they were not listing to them at all or neither was doing something to solve the problem. Instead they were misleading them with lies saying they would take action against it. This proves that they were making them suffers and giving no priorities to the movement black people were taking to have their rights and that made them go further with this issue to get their rights because everyone should be treated same.

  8. In Kings “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he states his feelings and opinions on what has befallen upon him and with that he states “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”. Showing the dissatisfaction of the system in place and his unacceptable nature of the situation.

  9. The letter he wrote from jail was basically telling his followers that’s its not gonna get better if they don’t stand up for themselves they can’t achieve anything unless they go after it freedom and being equal will not come for free he’s trying to inspire them Togo after what they believe in.

  10. I n the “Latter from birmngham jail” talks about how the weeks and months went by we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few sings, briefly removed; the others remained. It shows how they were not listing to them at all or neither was doing something to solve the problem. Instead, they were misleading them with lies saying they would take action against it

  11. After reading Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” he claimed “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?” Just like Mahatma Gandhi and strategy of non violent protest against the British, MLK use the same tactic against racism, sexism, poverty, war, and more. The fact that he knows they’ll be consequences due to him just standing (literally) for that cause and doing nothing to harm anyone is baffling but American society more specifically people who disagree and have power have a way to turn this into crime.

  12. “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 there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.”

    I choose this quote because it reminds me of the Black Lives Matter Movement. It is a nonviolent direct action that gains a lot of attention in different states. It is definitely something that has lead to growth within the Black community.

  13. From reading Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, the central theme of nonviolence is discussed. Dr. King states “”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”. Dr. King follows the steps of Gandhi with forms of civil disobedience when protesting to make his matters heard. Doing so legally protects protestors, from being arrested, and works as a loophole to demand their voices be heard when protesting peacefully during the civil rights era. These tactics are still enforced today, with the climate march and school walkouts in response to gun violence as prime examples.

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