Long Live the King (repost)

(Originally posted 1/17/11)

Media is abuzz today with honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am glad so many people are taking the time to remember the iconic man who helped fuel this nation's much needed Civil Rights Movement. I've been home studying lines for my next play (more on that later), grading papers, and planning the next few weeks of lesson plans for Cool School with the radio on in the background. I've caught snatches of some of King's famous speeches, especially the most famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Analysts, historians, and other members of the movement have discussed the power of his oration, his ideas, and his inspirational life.

I want to honor King as a writer here today. I recognize the Dream speech as one of the great accomplishments of our country's literature, but I think my favorite has to be "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." The speeches are meant to be heard, but this- this is meant to be read slowly and savored. To study it from a purely language-based point of view reveals Dr. King to be a fantastic wordsmith, a mighty wielder of rhetoric, and a pretty brilliant language tactician. It also proves that passive resistance does not equate with wishy-washiness, civil disobedience is not wimpy. Au contraire.

We don't have to look at the whole thing, though here is the full text if you want it. Just a taste will satisfy. Want to take a look with me?

It starts with an author's note.

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: This response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama (Bishop C. C. J. Carpenter, Bishop Joseph A. Durick, Rabbi Hilton L. Grafman, Bishop Paul Hardin, Bishop Holan B. Harmon, the Reverend George M. Murray. the Reverend Edward V. Ramage and the Reverend Earl Stallings) was composed under somewhat constricting circumstance. Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly Negro trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me. Although the text remains in substance unaltered, I have indulged in the author's prerogative of polishing it for publication. 

First off, I love that King identifies his attackers as "fellow" clergymen, listing each name using only the most respectful and formal titles. He then goes on with a terrific understatement, quipping that he (a fellow man of God) is writing under "somewhat constricting circumstances." He could have said "from jail," he could have said "while behind bars," but he chooses to use sophisticated diction further underscoring the truth that he is no common criminal, but a scholar, a holy man... with a wry sense of humor. I love, too, that King tells the particular details of being forced to write these thoughts on "the margins of the newspaper" and "on scraps of writing paper from a friendly Negro trusty." With these two details, he tells us that instead of stewing in his cell, he spends his time reading the paper... and that he has people on the inside helping his cause. He then graduates to "a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me." Not one attorney. Plural. The man is letting us know he has a network. So. With this little "note" he has established his authority, his intelligence, and his power with the people. Gauntlet thrown, bitches.

The real letter then begins:

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL
April 16, 1963

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

Check out the word choice in the first sentence: "I came across your recent statement." Came across. Not "I read" or "someone showed me"... I came across. As though King, in his cell, had many important things to do, was reading reams of important information, and then saw this curious little article and thought, "Now, goodness! What might this be?" He further enhances this image of King as busy businessman in the next sentence. You can imagine him sighing, like a father does to pesky children, as he says, "Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas." And we learn in the next sentence that just as he has multiple attorneys, he also has an army of busy secretaries doing "constructive work." He appeals to the men to whom he writes as "men of genuine good will... sincerely set forth," before he once again sighs and returns to his weary paternal role, hoping he can continue in "patient and reasonable terms."

In the next paragraph, he offers a narrative resume while he gently reminds the readers that he was, indeed, invited to Birmingham:

I think I should indicate why I am here In Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us        to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here.

After listing these credentials (and again reminding the readers that he has a considerable and mighty numbers behind him), he spends his next words to provide biblical precedents that support his current movement:

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

This next paragraph contains so many quotable insights, I hardly know where to begin. Here, he appeals to his audience as human beings and as Americans:

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. 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 anywhere within its bounds. 

I especially love the pronoun we. Dr. King boldly asserts a kindred relationship by including his readers into this personal, plural pronoun usage... just in time to finish the paragraph with a dressing down of the newspaper's accusation of King as "outside agitator."

The body of the letter goes on to systematically dismantle the ethical, emotional, and logical fallacies behind the inherent racism strangling the South and the nation as a whole. Dr. King engages in arguments based in economy, religion, and constitutional law. He references his own son's questions, the Supreme Court, St. Thomas Aquinas, Thoreau, and Socrates, among others. In doing so, MLK shows himself to be a scholar, a philosopher, a patriot, and a caring father. I imagine the men he lists in his author's note furiously scrambling around their library, searching out the texts and history in order to keep up with this man they have tried to paint as their inferior.

Then, he changes his tone near the end. I picture him shaking out his cramped hand and writing:

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

Tee hee. "Precious time." Love it. And then the apology that is not really an apology. King reminds them that if they had taken the time to meet with him, to speak with him, listen, hear reason- this long ass letter (one which surely would come to be known as the masterpiece it is) could have been avoided. Now look what you made me do... publicly humiliate you by showing your argument to be ridiculous and unChristian, and by showing myself (and by extension my race) to be capable of utter greatness. He then whips it all into a big finish. Enjoy:

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King, as an American, a civil rights supporter, and as a Language Arts teacher, I thank you. And happy birthday!