Martin Luther King Jr: Question 1

During the 1960s there was so much injustice going on in our country. African Americans were treated as if they were not human. Martin Luther King Jr. was a very influential civil rights leader. He believed in protesting and nonviolence as a way to fight for injustice. He particularly went to Birmingham, Alabama to fight injustice. He found that Birmingham was the most segregated city in the United States. This was the place in which there were more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches than any other city. The leaders of the city refused to negotiate with Negro leaders. If they did they would not keep the promises that they made. King used an example of racial signs that were supposed to be removed, but were eventually placed back. He said that “a law that degrades human personality is unjust”. (King 179) Most of the laws in Birmingham did just that. There were also laws that African Americans were to obey, but the whites did not have to. The minorities were also denied the right to vote. They could not have any input on the laws that they were supposed to follow. Martin Luther King Jr. felt that this was unjust. I agree with all of the injustices that King found. African American’s were taxpaying citizens that had to follow laws that others did not. The leaders interpreted the laws to their advantage. That is not what laws were made for. Laws were made to protect all of the citizens, not a majority of them.

King, Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York:Bedford/St Martin’s, 2006.pp 173-189