LitFlash: 'Creative tension'
In the week commemorating his birthday, we celebrate the enduring wisdom, eloquence, and compassion of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)
You may well ask, ‘Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.
I just referred to the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister. This may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
About the author
Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-68) was an American minister and Black church leader who was a major figure in the Civil Rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. His political philosophy centred on nonviolent action, which he practiced through mass protests in many areas of the country, resulting on several occasions in his arrest and imprisonment. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
King was imprisoned for leading nonviolent civil rights protests in Alabama in 1963. In the letter, addressed to ‘my fellow clergymen,’ MLK explains his belief that people have a duty to follow just laws and a responsibility to break unjust ones. The following summary of the events surrounding his letter comes from a suggested lesson plan for teachers:
‘In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth launched a campaign of mass protests in Birmingham, Alabama, which Dr. King called the most segregated city in America. Initially, the demonstrations had little impact. Then, on Good Friday, Dr. King was arrested and spent a week behind bars, where he wrote one of his most famous meditations on racial injustice and civil disobedience, "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Meanwhile, James Bevel, one of Dr. King's young lieutenants, summoned black youths to march in the streets at the beginning of May. Birmingham City Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor used police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses to put down the demonstrations. Nearly a thousand young people were arrested. The violence was broadcast on television to the nation and the world.’ (Curricular Resources for Teachers, JFK Presidential Library and Museum web site)
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