Thinking about King

Today is the Federal holiday observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. I’m not sure if his “birthday as holiday” can adequately inform Americans of the nobility of this man. Too many Americans have never read what Dr. King actually wrote. That is a shame because his views on justice, on freedom and on equality are timeless.



On Good Friday, 1963, Dr. King found himself in solitary confinement in the Birmingham, Alabama jail. His crime? He failed to apply for a parade permit before leading a protest march.


A number of prominent ministers in the Birmingham area wrote a public statement condemning King’s actions in organizing protests. Calling his actions “unwise” (their word), they urged King to seek compromise and conciliation with the civil authorities.


Kings was provided a pen (a violation of jailhouse rules) by a sympathetic guard. He then began writing, on scraps of newspaper and sheets of toilet paper, a 7000 word essay that would be smuggled out of the jail and receive international attention. Soon to be known as “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King eloquently described the God-given right of freedom and justice every person was granted.


In a direct challenge to the minister/critics who chastised his actions, he wrote:


“Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere . . . freedom is not granted by the oppressor . . .”


When I was sixteen years old, I read Dr. King’s essay. Though young and being raised by conservative Republican parents who weren’t overly thrilled with the civil rights movement, I was enthralled by his words. In 1975, I had my whole life ahead of me. I hated injustice; I loved freedom. In other words, I was a dopey teenager.


I went to college, then law school and became a lawyer. I had a wife, then a house with a mortgage, then kids. I knew “right from wrong” (at least out in public; inside I knew what I was doing wouldn’t pass my own litmus test), had a definite opinion on any political or social issue. I went to church, voted and participated in community service because that’s what “good people” do.


I was, and I hate to admit it, just like the right-thinking preachers that questioned Dr. King. And then, my whole life fell apart. I was arrested, divorced, alone. I sat in the county jail and pondered my future. While there, I rediscovered Dr. King’s letter.


In my favorite Bible verse (and the focal point of my prison tattoo), the prophet Isaiah in Chapter 40, writes:


Why do you say and assert your way is hidden from the Lord
And the justice do you escapes the
Notice of your God. . .


Isaiah goes on telling God’s people to have faith. God does not grow weary or tire. Justice shall prevail.


Dr. King’s words in his jailhouse essay were much like Isaiah’s. He called on believers to have faith, confront injustice, demand freedom. For a guy sitting in a jail cell, broken and feeling hopeless, Dr. King provided a testament to press on.


Dr. King reminded me that regardless of what we do, we are endowed by our Creator with freedom. And government must tread carefully when depriving one of their freedom, lest they become oppressors.


I, like hundreds of thousands of other incarcerated people deserve to be imprisoned for a time. But that does not allow government to act unjustly. Today, the criminal justice system is just that. It is unjust.


Go online and read his “letter”. http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf

Think about the message. Celebrate the messenger by contacting your state representative and demand prison reform.