Birmingham Jail Oppression

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Black oppression used to be one of America’s most unjust law. In “ A letter from a Birmingham Jail”, the author Martin Luther King writes a letter to a clergyman to defend African American’s act of fighting for their freedom through nonviolent protest and sit ins. African Americans were never treated equally and has always been oppressed by white. In A letter from a Birmingham Jail, King mentions “ freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”(King, 55). King believes freedom must be demanded by the oppressed because freedom will never be achieved by waiting. This is based on the notion that African Americans are deprived of freedom due to unjust laws. Furthermore, freedom is never voluntarily given …show more content…
In A letter from A Birmingham Jail, King describes the difference between a justice law and a injustice law. A justice law is a law that “a majority inflicts on a minority”(King, 57), while a injustice law is a law that “a majority compels a minority to follow, and that is willing to follow itself”(King, 57). The difference of the laws is that unjust laws give privileges to only the oppressor whereas an just law gives everyone the privilege and freedom to choose their own actions. The idea of an unjust law creates the power of white dominance; they are backed by the law and encouraged by the law to enact in discrimination. Furthermore, King compares the unjust laws to the actions of Hitler in Germany. King describes “ everything Hitler did in Germany was legal and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was illegal” (King, 58). As mentioned, these types of law gives freedom to only certain groups in society while discriminating the others. Although it is considered “legal” to support Hitler, it is morally wrong. Law should not determine what is right and wrong to do when the law itself is wrong. Law should also be applied to everyone in society because laws are created to protect its citizens of the country. Thus, these laws must be …show more content…
The clergymen who King is writing a letter to disapproves the demonstrations and instead, suggests an alternative action such as negotiation. However, it is the oppressors who refuses to negotiate. Even when the the oppressor promises to the negotiations, nothing is ever done. King recalls during one of the negotiations, merchants had “ [promised] to remove the humiliating racial signs from the stores”(King, 52) , yet “weeks and months unfolded, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise”(King, 52). Even though white supremacist promised to remove the sign, they were never actually willing to remove them. White supremacist simply promised to remove the racial signs just to quiet African Americans down. This shows that demonstrations is the only choice since white supremacist would not listen to them. Yet the white supremacists keep telling African Americans to be patient and wait. However, African Americans “ have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for [their] God-given and constitutional rights”(King, 55). Patience has led to impatience because the white supremacist has failed to give freedom and rights to African Americans. Three hundred and forty years of waiting proves that the oppressors are never willing to give rights. When one waits, nothing will be done. Thus, this justifies the need to
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