Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia. He was most known for his speech “ I Have a Dream” which changed millions of viewpoint worldwide. But that all changed because in 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he was protesting for the treatments of people of color in Birmingham, Alabama.This then led to the letter Martin Luther King Jr. wrote while he sat in jail called “ The Letter from Birmingham Jail”.
In the years promptly following the Civil War, the Supreme Court passed government enactment giving African Americans citizenship rights. Be that as it may, by 1910, the majority of the previous Confederate states had embraced isolation laws of their own, intended to keep African Americans from taking an interest completely in American culture. But In the spring of 1963 activist along with Martin Luther King Jr. started this campaign called Project C but the more popular name was the Birmingham Campaign. The campaign attacked the segregation system by putting pressure on Birmingham’s merchants. Segreagtion is when a state sets people apart from other groups of people. “The campaign caused mass meetings, direct actions, lunch counter sit ins, marches on City Hall, and a boycott of downtown merchants.” stated by Carson. It was different in Birmingham Alabama. It’s segreation laws required seperation of the different races in resturants, entertainment places, public transportation, and schools. One to stand up to the segregations of schools for education was Ruby Bridges who was the first African American child to intergate into a prominatley white school.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses four basic steps for a nonviolent campaign. Step one is collection of the facts to see if the injustice is alive. Step two is negotiation, step three is self-purification, and lastly step four is direct action. He uses theses three basic steps in his letter he wrote in the jail in Birmingham, Alabama. Each of theses steps were very crucial for nonviolence. When problems are pushed forward using violence it tends to create more anger. This is seen in pretty much any large wars that we have come by. An example would be World War II. He uses the theory of unjust law to fight against segreation. In the letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. implies,”Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.” He did not beileve we should be outsiders in our own home. Theses non violent campagins backfired and created a bigger mess in which was not intended.
Step one collection of the facts to see if the injustice is alive this step is very important because you can not act on a problem without ther being one to begin with. If you want to fight for something there has to be a purpose. Without a purpose you will not need to take action. He tends to get this goal first towards the end of segregation. This is when MLK Jr. starts see the real segregation that is happening around him. He sees the seperation in schools, in public setting, and in public transportation. An example of segregation on public transportation was the story of Rosa Parks. In the past people of color were forced to sit in the back of a bus while the white were allowed to sit in the front with better seats. Rosa Parks faught against this idea because she believed that she had the right to be able to sit in the front of the bus. One day she sat in the seat of where a white women would and she recieved a lot of hate for what she believed in. People yelled at her to get to the back , a lot of foul shouting happened to her making her the biggest target. Because she stood her ground she was arrested and was physically taken out of the seat because she wanted to stop this segreation on public transportation. Rosa Parks saw the problems and realized that the injustice is alive and this is when she decided to take action. Martin Luther King Jr. decided that the injustice had to end.
Step two which is negotation, this is where the action will take place or not. You have to negotiate with thoses willing to work with you and thoses who are against you in way you can change the unjustful laws. Birmingham is probably the most segregated areas in Alabama according to the United States. Its terrofying record of police brutality was known in every single country. Its unjust treatment of thoses of color in the courts is an ugly reality in which they were not expecting. There have been more unsolved cases of bombing and burning down of churches in Birmingham than in any other city in this nation. Becauses of theses harsh circumstanced people were living in this city, the people of colors, Negreo leaders tried to negotiate with the city fathers. But the political leaders consistently refused to engage in negotiation. These negotiating promises were made by the merchants, such as the promise to remove the humiliating racial signs from the stores. As weeks and months passed they realized that were the victims of broken promises. The signs remained and so did the segregation , nothing changed. As in so many experiences of the past they were very disappointed in the promises that we broken. So they had no other options only to prepare for direct action, where they would actually present themesleves and take action on the changes they wanted. An example of negotiations is when we go to court for any problem that we face with legality. Court allow you to have an attorney / lawyer to represent you so they can negotiate with the judge what will happen next. Such as if you were being unjustful and comitted a crime the lawyer and judge will negotitate to see if you are guilty or not and will assign you a sentence or fee.
Step three, self purification which is preparing yourself and your body for what wil come next this mean mentally preparing yourself. Self purification involves you to have peace in your heart and to be happy with yourself. If you are going into a disagreement with anger then you will not get anyrhing done becuase there is too much hate in your heart. No preparing yourself will lead you to having no soultuions to your problems but also not continuing this campagin of non violence. To purify yourself you will need to meditate and get lots of sleep to allow you to have an open mind. The bible states “You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God” Leviticus 20:7. In the letter of Birmingham jail Martin Luther King Jr. concludes that to self purify you must have noviolence workshops and you should ask your self questions such as, “Are you able to accept blows without retaliating? and Are you able to endure the ordeals of jail.” You have to keep this in mind when dealing with self purification because the campaign needs to stay as a nonviolent movement.
Step four the most important step there is, direct action. This is where you start making the moves on what you want to get done. This step is the last step which is a last alternative, if steps one and two do not work then you have to prepare yourself and start with direct action. Negotion is ineefective without direct action. King claims that direct action forces genuine negotiation which can cause for an actual result rather than a broken promise. Non violent direct action brings up the issues that you want changed making them known to everyone. Then you must push the point until it can not be ignored by the people listening. For example Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have Dream Speech was repeated over and over again until people had no other option than to listen.