![]() King also responds to the accusation that protests were “untimely” (90) because they did not give Mayor Albert Boutwell, the moderate segregationist who beat extreme segregationist Bull Connor in the mayor’s election, a chance to demonstrate that he was ready to loosen the segregationist regime in Birmingham. The choice of direct action was explicitly used to force the hands of those in power in Birmingham. Far from being destructive, such tension is “constructive, nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth” (90). King next responds to the question of whether direct action is preferable to negotiation by pointing out that “onviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue” (89). Because they followed this process, the leaders of the protests knew their timing was right. King provides evidence to show that they completed each step before proceeding to the next. The decision to protest in Birmingham is the result of a four-stage process King and his peers followed: collecting facts, negotiating, self-purifying, and engaging in direct action. The clergymen’s objection to the protests is unfortunate because it fails to account for what led to the protests in the first place. Ultimately, “njustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” according to King, so when it comes to fighting injustice, there is no such thing as an outsider in the U.S. King then highlights the example of early Christians like the Apostle Paul, who preached far from home, to make the point that King’s Christian duty requires him to come to Birmingham because of the presence of injustice. According to King, he is in Birmingham because the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), the local of affiliate of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLSC), invited him. King opens the letter by explaining that he is responding to their criticism that the protests are“‘unwise and untimely’” (85) because he believes the clergymen to be sincere people of “genuine goodwill” (85).King first responds to the clergymen’s criticism that King is an outsider. ![]()
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