I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. “I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” “For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” “Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. “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.” Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.” It is so often the archsupporter of the status quo. The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. They were too God-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically intimidated.’ They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest. They were small in number but big in commitment. “Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside agitators.’ But they went on with the conviction that they were a ‘colony of heaven’ and had to obey God rather than man. “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, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles o popular opinion it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” “The early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. “So I have tried to make it clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor it must be demanded by the oppressed.” I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be…This is the inter-related structure of reality.” Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. “In a real sense all life is inter-related. ― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action” who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. “I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers.
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