Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to fighting for equality for African-Americans. He marched for miles, gave many speeches, and wrote literature such as “Letter From Birmingham Jail” all in the name of justice. He even paid the ultimate price of death for his perseverance and his unwillingness to simply give up. Many would say that things are far different today than from Dr. King’s days; however, with ongoing discrimination and modern day activism like Black Lives Matter and Justice or Else, one could infer that we have not truly progressed.

Black Lives Matter and Justice or Else focus on police brutality and injustice within the legal system. Both movements hold protests in remembrance of black people who have been unjustly killed by law enforcement. Each protester hopes that he could somehow bring about change in the legal system and stop unjust killings. Both began on social media; but, they focus on some of the same issues that Dr. King and his associates worked to accomplish during the

days of the civil rights movement. These problems are currently at the forefront of social issues, but they are often met with controversy because of the illusion that there is no more racially motivated injustice. The tactic used to counter Black Lives Matter (All Lives Matter) was made to discredit the movement by stating that white people do not have an advantage over the black people in the eyes of the law. Much like Dr. King’s clergymen, many members of society do not support protest in the name of racial injustice simply because they believe there is no current issue with race.

While matters of police brutality are at the forefront of social discussion, the one issue that Dr.

King emphasized the most in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and is presently the most overlooked is discrimination. Although discrimination is nowhere near as overt as it was in the twentieth century, it is still an ongoing issue in present day America. In Dr. King’s time there was no need to hide racism. An individual could use racial slurs in public without fear of backlash. But since it is now considered taboo to be blatantly racist a system has been adopted to take the place of past unconcealed racism. Laws like “stop and frisk” perpetuate the racist system by giving police officers a right to search anyone they deem suspicious. It is noted that african american men are far more likely to be “stopped and frisked” than their white counterparts. This law is unjust and it sustains racism and stereotyping by targeting people because they look a certain

way.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” is a quote from Dr. King’s letter. If one group is continuously oppressed. It will eventually begin to affect everyone. We are all one people bound together with the rope of humanity. It is time to diminish everything that hinders our progression and move forward as one people, but the only way to do that is to acknowledge the problem, accept that there is a problem, and change the problem.