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To achieve social change, non-violent direct action must be undertaken to establish creative tension, in which a community may be forced to help negotiate or confront the issue. Creative tension is always created by non-violent resistors such as Martin Luther King. It is also a norm that “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 2). Thus, Dr. King called for constructive non-violent tension through the Letter from Birmingham Jail.
He also asks the church to help address issues of social change and bring equality to the country by stating that “the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century” (King 5).
Furthermore, Dr. King’s letter shows his frustration and impatience of waiting for freedom and justice. He also expresses the poor response of the oppressors to give up the privileges and rights of the people. His timely desire to execute his strategy led to non-violent tension. Thus, to achieve social change, people must act and create tension as advocated by Dr. King. b. How does Dr. King’s letter address the concepts of i. Rights To respond to issues of rights, Dr. King does not respond by first attacking, the political institutions. Instead, he understands segregation as both a political and a moral problem. Through the foundation of love, Dr. King creates concerns about human rights.
His main motivation to address human rights was through the creation of a beloved community. He does not seem to correct the evil segregation or wrongs in society but attacks the causes of racial segregation. He believes that the change in human consciousness would help achieve critical changes in the political order. King was using spiritual enlightenment instead of political strategies. He states “We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands” (King 5). For Dr. King people’s conceptions of self and a change of heart can lead to true relationships including human and constitutional rights. ii. Duty The Letter from Birmingham City Jail mostly focuses on the duty to fight for justice. His philosophy is mainly aligned with Gandhi’s and Thoreau’s. Dr. King believes that people have the responsibility to challenge laws that are unjust. He describes unjust laws as ‘An unjust law is no law at all’ (King 3). He also insists that the people have the role and responsibility to break unjust laws either lovingly or non-violently because “any law that uplifts human personality is just, and any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (King 3). However, the people also have a duty to obey and respect just laws overall or receive a penalty for their disobedience.
Thus, Dr. King’s civil disobedience against unjust laws inspired the fight against inequality action and provided hope for social change. iii. Justice Dr. King directly addresses issues of justice throughout the Letter from Birmingham Jail. He describes that justices fight against human segregation while injustices fight against it. He further maintains that people who see injustices and do not act in a way to stop them are unjust because “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King 1). This means that morality and laws cannot be separated. Therefore, by advocating for good justice, he led non-violent protests and was jailed in an unjust way. The country needed to improve on ways that they handle justice.
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