A Necessary Tension

Letter from a Birmingham Jail 

We have waited for more than 350 years for our constitutional and God-given rights…We still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for the people who never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, ‘Wait.’ But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers…drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policeman curse, kick and kill your Black brothers and sisters; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, ‘Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?’; when your first name becomes ‘Nigger.’ Then you will find it difficult to wait.

Violence begets violence, hatred breeds hostility, and cruelty generates brutality. But tension, as Martin Luther King spoke of in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, can create an atmosphere ripe for discussion and change. The non-violent actions that King suggested to combat segregation and racism in the South were--and still are--the correct methods for achieving understanding between all races and genders and nations. 

King spoke eloquently on the subject of gaining understanding, and of the non-violet means necessary to attain that acceptance, going so far as to literally spell out the "four basic steps [for any non-violent campaign]." King proceeded to explain how he and his followers used the steps to resolve their conflicts with the city of Birmingham, to put an end to the unjust laws of the South, to signify the African-American community's refusal to go along with the status quo. 

In the words of Dr. King, the Negro of the sixties was a "victim of a broken promise" whose hopes and dreams of a uniquely 'United' States were dashed into oblivion by bigotry. And yet Martin Luther King did not advocate violence or hatred or cruelty to end the 340 years of segregation and prejudice. King recommended creating an aura of tension in Birmingham. King felt that pressure would "help men rise from the dark depths of...racism." King saw that stress, not violence, would open the door for fruitful discussion. King was a rare man who understood that when we are faced with violent images, we only see the violence, not the reasons behind it. He saw that tension could generate a dialogue out of the monologue that is hatred. Hatred existed--exists--between the races because of unjust laws that the majority us to suppress the minority' laws the majority does does make "binding on itself." 

King pushed for demonstrations of unity and non-violence as a means to expose those injustices, to unmask the sore that is racism for all Americans. King taught that it is through the exposure that tension--unrest--brings that a focus can be places on the ills of society. And it is that exposure which leads to a cure for those selfsame ailments. The sickness of racism that forced Martin Luther King to go to Birmingham, to be arrested and placed in a jail cell, thrives in this country today. Most Americans are so fearful of differences--be they skin color, faith, gender, age or sexual orientation--they continue to follow the status quo. They bury their heads in the sand and deny the problem, then express mock shock and anger when the problem is shoved in their faces. 

Tension brings the issues of racism and prejudice and bigotry to the forefront of our collective consciousness; tension makes us aware, forces us to confront our ugliness. It is a necessity. When we clear the air of tension with meaningful dialogue, when we accept and understand everyone and their differences, we can then call and men and women free--a truly united state.