Why We Can T Wait Sparknotes

The book Why We Can’t Wait by Martin Luther King Jr. describes how black people were struggling to attain their freedom and civil rights. He focuses on the events that happened in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 while he was a part of the civil rights movement. Martin calls Birmingham the city of discrimination since it was the worst city black people lived in that time because of segregation. However, the people living in that city came out to march with Dr. King to protest segregation. The city police arrested the people even when the jails were full. Furthermore, what people were asking for was freedom and equality in jobs, schools, votes, and shops. While Dr. King spends a lot of time discussing the events in Birmingham in 1963, his main goal is to communicate to the younger generation that they have to continue the fight for social justice.
Dr. King first discusses what happened in Birmingham, Alabama in 1962 and 1963 in his book. Martin describes the weather and also implies that the civil rights movement were like the severe weather in the early 1960s. He compared the harsh weather with the discrimination that black people

were trying to overcome. In addition, black people were facing judgment, unfairness, poverty and lack of education. In 1963, Dr. King and other Christian leaders received a call from Fred Shuttlesworth, who organized people into a church and asked Martin to lead another peaceful protest. People were arrested and Martin did not have enough money to bail out all the people, so he decided to go to jail.
Then Martin wrote a letter that expressed his ideas about having a peaceful civil rights movement and why it was great to plan to lead the people. Dr. King got protestors to come from all around the state and march while singing the freedom song, “woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom” (King 66). People were angry because jails were full of black men who were not able to help their children. Also, black people did not have a suitable education, there was no equality, so people must show their frustration to the government.
Martin describes that year the time that black people came together and fought for their freedom. Martin describes the situation black people had during that time and says, “Undeniably, the Negro had been an object of sympathy and wore the scars of deep grievance, but the nation had come to count on him as a creature who could quietly endure, silently suffer and patiently wait” (King 6). This quote shows that black people had to fight to overcome their longtime humiliation and injustice to get their freedom and be viewed as equal to the whites; black people just need to be patient. Black people at this time suffered poverty, inequality, lack of education, lack of housing, and justice. Martin discusses how black people have attained what their ancestors were looking and fighting for, but the results are not finalized. There needs to be more action and awareness of what is coming next. We must help and respect each other.
Martin was also directing his message to the younger generation so they would know that the freedom they had today did not come as a gift.

No one can pay money to get freedom; black people struggled and they gave their lives to attain the freedom they have today. Martin says, “the storm clouds did not release a ‘gentle rain from heaven’” (Marin 7). Black people were fighting for equality and civil rights for a long time and the youth must know that no one could get this without a fight. No one will give you what you need until you stand up for your life and rights. However, black people would face more problems if they are not aware of white people’s thinking. Because white people want black people to return to slavery or at least not attain the same rights as them, they are looking to create wrong allegations and treat black people

badly.
The black youth has to know how our leaders earned their freedom and rights so that they do not take these rights for granted and stop fighting for their freedom.
Martin received support from many people and had more power in the year 1963. Martin chose peaceful protest movements, which led to ending segregation in Birmingham. Martin and Fred Shuttles-Worth were arrested because of defiance, and they were separated. Then all of Martin’s supporters voluntarily chose to arrest themselves. They showed the government that they were not scared to go to prison because they saw that going to prison was a sign of the government's dishonesty. They were following Martin to prison to stand in solidarity with him. Martin said, “Punish me. I do not deserve it. But because I do not deserve it, I will accept it so that the world will know that I am right and you are wrong” (King 25). The white police were confused why the black people wanted to go to the jails because all the prisons were full. The black people were saying that they did nothing wrong and they are good people, but the problem is with corrupted power and they will wait until they get freedom. Black men did not do any wrong and they are human, but the white people do not see it that way.
White Americans asked black people why they fight and what they have to give them to attain full freedom. White Americans wanted black people to be content with what they had under segregation because white people did not want black people to be equal with them and have the same opportunities and rights. Some white Americans asked, “What more will the Negro want?” or “When will he be satisfied?” or “What will it take to make these demonstrations cease?” (King 151). White men looked to take back some rights that belonged to the black people, including all rights the government approved a long time ago.
African Americans could not obtain full freedom and civil rights because whites were not letting them get full freedom. Even though slavery had been abolished in the previous century, white people still saw black people as objects and less than a white person. For example, when slavery was legal, white people used to take a black man’s wife and children away from him, and they might not see their father or husband anymore. It was only after WWII that the army began to declare that they believed that black men have a legal right to stay with their families and people must respect the black men, and also that they should get veteran’s rights. After black people struggled with their freedom, justice, equality of education, housing, and economic prosperity, people now have what they have been looking for after a long time. Also, the black people must not to forget the civil rights movement and must help each other and eliminate discrimination.
To sum-up, Dr. King always believed in nonviolence, and in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, he leads his biggest civil rights movement and the world saw the power of a peaceful movement and no one could stop it. Also, Dr. King was emphasizing African American struggles to attain justice and the responsibilities that the next generation has to reach full equality for African Americans. African American justice and moral fairness still have a long way to go. African Americans received promises for equality but it never happened. African American equality needs to be fought for because it was denied for a long time, and Martin invented peaceful confrontation as the tool. Martin also describes how the violence that freedom fighters commonly used to improve African Americans lives never prospered. Martin told the youth to join the protests and reminded all about the importance of involving youth in advocating for social change.