Reading Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” | A Primary Source Close Read

0:04 Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Bill of Rights Institute’s. Close Reads. We’re really glad you’re here. I’m Kirk Higgins. For those of you who are new to our Close Read format, every other Thursday we work our way through important primary sources and documents from American history unpacking big ideas and themes and discussing them with experts and people who are really interested in these topics. This week, in honor of Black History Month, we’re going to be taking a look at a tremendous document, Martin Luther King’s beautiful and powerful letter from a Birmingham jail written in 1963. To help me with unpacking this letter, I am very fortunate to be welcomed by two guests. BRI’s, Director of Outreach, Rachel Davison. Hello Rachel. Hi. So excited to be talking about this. With both of you and also Dr.

0:49 Annika Prather. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here. Absolutely. So, by way of just setting up the document, we like to start with some historical context. So this letter is known as the Letter from a Birmingham Jail and it was quite literally written from Birmingham City Jail in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King was imprisoned there during his Birmingham campaign after he participated in a series of sit ins and pickets and was arrested on Good Friday. In fact, April 12, 1963 for violating a court injunction prohibiting civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham. While he was imprisoned, he saw a statement that was written called A Call for Unity.

1:37 It was written by leading white religious leaders who were also interested in the civil rights movement but were concerned about King’s approach in the civil rights movement’s approach to undermining segregation in the south. So King wrote voluminously. This letter was actually the version we’re looking at, I think it’s worth noting is a draft that was published on April 16. He was sent it to his secretary Is on April 16 of 1963 but it wasn’t published until May and June of 1963. So there are some changes, but we’re looking at original draft. But Anika, Rachel, what do you think it is about this particular letter? King wrote voluminously throughout his life, he spoke

2:23 countless times about these issues but this letter somehow always comes up in our public consciousness when we’re talking about the civil rights movement. What exactly is it about this letter that makes it so powerful? I think for me, the fact it’s almost like deja vu because he’s writing back then to white Christian leaders about why he is fighting injustice and why he’s doing it in this way. And many of us on this side this time find ourselves having these very same conversations with especially that community of why we need to speak up about injustice. So that’s the first piece is that

3:09 a lot of times we look at primary sources you think, oh, this was used back then. This Declaration of Independence was written back then. Or this letter was written back then, but we read this and we’re like, wait, this is going on right now? Like, he’s saying some of the stuff we’re dealing with, like, today. So I think that is one of the reasons why it’s so powerful, because it keeps being relevant. I think the other thing that strikes me is just the argument is so clear, right. Every paragraph builds a response to something he had, he said before. And one of the reasons I find Dr. King is so compelling Reverend Dr. King is so compelling is because he speaks, and he writes in

3:58 that rhythm of the pastor and that kind of drawing you in and then turning you loose and then pulling you back and then pushing you out. And he does that so eloquently over and over and over again throughout this letter. I think that you can’t help but be drawn into the struggle in this letter in particular, because I do think it speaks so clearly across time to every person who reads it. Yeah. Absolutely. Without further ado, we’ll dive straight into the letter, and unfortunately, every week it pains me because I have to divide up these really amazing documents, but I really always like to start

4:43 at the beginning because I think it sets the tone so beautifully. So we’re limited on time. But I wanted to start at the beginning too. And his opening here really strikes me, not only because he immediately states where he is, but he also I mean, it’s almost from the start, you feel the sense of exasperation and frustration not just with his condition, but also just with the fact that he has to turn his attention to dealing with people who should be working with him to justify his actions. And that, to me, just even though this was written all the way back in 1963, it just seems so present when I read this passage. Yeah. And I think his opening, it was like, he reads whatever they wrote and he’s in the jail.

5:30 I can just imagine him saying, okay, I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to say anything. And then he’s like, I can’t let that go because it’s so shocking. It’s so shocking. You’re taking the time to write a letter telling me I’m being unwise. Why aren’t you using that same energy to write a letter about what I’m in jail for? Like, about racism, about the oppression of black people, about the threat to our civil rights? Why aren’t you using your power and authority and wisdom to write about that? Wow. Just as upset about that. Why are you upset about me fighting for my rights? Yeah. And that last sentence, I actually think is so beautifully crafted because he has to do a little bit of rhetoric there.

6:17 Right. He can’t just say, Come on. Right? He has to say, I feel that you are men of genuine goodwill, and your criticisms are sincere. Yes. I believe that you’re not bad people. I believe that you’re good people and that you’re being sincere, that you have these concerns and that you’re good Christians. Yes. And let’s move from there. Let’s establish that common ground that we come together to. And then I can have my next paragraph. And that’s why he’s so powerful, because in nothing he says or does, does he bring in hate. That is why he is my idol. And it’s not to say that he doesn’t feel angry and I don’t want to say idle the wrong way, but he really is an example of how we should be addressing this thing, because he’s addressing it.

7:04 Recently I read something from but they were criticizing the peaceful way that Martin Luther King is, almost as if it wasn’t effective. I’m like, sir. the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We need to talk. And the reason why he is so effective is because he does that instead of just coming out, being mad and just in anger and putting them down for I’m just beyond the ridiculousness of this, like you said, he addresses the fact that I see the good in you and I see your heart. And I’m going to and he’s a man of faith. I’m sure he’s thinking of verses like, god looks at the outward appearance, but man looks at the heart. I know this is not a religious top discussion, but he is a man of faith.

7:50 He’s a man of faith speaking to other men of faith. We have to bring God in the back. Yes. So he’s dealing with that. I’m going to deal with you like the way God would deal with us. I’m going to look at your heart and I’m going to believe the best and love believes the best about the other person, no matter what. And so him establishing it’s like he uses love as his weapon almost. He starts off with love all the time, which I feel gives him the inroad to lay out the argument. Yeah absolutely. Like you both said, I think him seeing that they’re so close, that they understand the direction they want to go and what would be seemingly sort of not a hair splitting argument, but why this is such a big deal to him, I think, is because they are of goodwill and he wants to really reinforce that. Yes. And he goes on to say this momentous line,

8:39 and I think you’re thinking about you talking about love. This is a big issue. And here we find the line. I think that many people know from this letter, which is injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, which is such a powerful line. But he’s setting up here that it’s important that we do this and it’s important that we’re all focused on this and it’s important that I lay this out and that this work that we’re doing is so critical, not just here in Birmingham, but across the south and across the nation as we come to understand and work to fulfill this promise of equality. Yes. And I think faith people, being a person of faith, I’m to going be perfectly honest, it is very hard to determine based on your

9:28 faith what is the right way to deal with these things. You really do wrestle through that. And that’s another reason why I love him so much, because he gives me this example and I think one of the first things faith people do is we analyze how people are addressing injustice and we lined up with the Bible, we say, okay, but then the mistake I think we make is we do that. And in doing that, if we find one thing about the organization, about the movement, or about the person that we don’t think lines up with the Bible, we will discount the issue. As opposed to just saying, I disagree with your faith or I disagree with some of your philosophy on life,

10:13 but I still see the issue and I want to fight alongside of you. Faith-based people are famous for saying, okay, they’re not a Christian or this doesn’t line up with scripture and look, they’re this and they’re that and they’ll throw out all of it. The issue, the cause, and the organization. Actually in between. So we have to skip paragraphs because we don’t have you could spend a whole semester reading this lesson, like this letter. The letter is about 20 pages long and Anika, maybe you know this, but something like 200 different works are referenced in this letter. Recently, the man was extraordinarily well read. Come on.

10:58 And spoke to so many different groups as an insider. But in the intervening paragraph, he actually does exactly what you’re saying. He justifies his place in the dialogue by saying, I know you don’t agree with everything that I’m doing, but here are all the ways that we’re connected. Yes. And this is why I think again, think about the rhetoric of the article, just the way the letter and the way that it’s written out. He takes this logic and moves it along and he says, okay, this is why I’m talking to you. This is what’s happening. This is why I’m part of your community. Now, let’s lay out some let’s establish some things. Yes. This is the first thing I’m going to establish and here’s how I’m going to say it. I’m going to say justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

11:45 And then I’m going to give you some clauses and I’m going to say, if you are in America, you have to be a part of these conversations. You aren’t an outsider to the cause of America. And he said that powerful statement right after he says, I cannot sit idly by. I love it because it’s kind of a trick statement because he obviously is not sitting idly by because he’s in jail. But instead of saying you can’t sit idlely by, you see what I mean? Like, he could have pointed fingers, which automatically would have created a wall. But he makes himself included in, like, we us, I cannot sit idly by. And then he goes into injustice anywhere. There’s a threat to justice everywhere,

12:31 and there’s this concept of, come on, we’re in this together. We cannot sit idly by while these injustices are going on. It’s really a call for the church to rise up. And the unity of the idea of being just a resident of America. He doesn’t say all citizens inside can never be an outsider. He says anyone who lives here. Well, I was going to say he has that beautiful I mean, it’s a civic kind of line, right? We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny, right? That’s communities, wow, we are one. We are connected. Like it or not, we live together, and this is a fundamental problem. He goes on and we’ll get into this, but he goes on to talk about

13:18 the fundamental nature of what it means to have a law, what a just law means. Those are civic things. But he’s bringing it in from the perspective of what it means to be a human being and how it is that human beings need to work together towards great ends, which I found just incredibly powerful. So to that end of working to get things done, he goes through this section talking about tension and the need to create tension, because one of the things that came up again in the interviewing paragraphs that we can’t get into, right, is this idea that, hey, you’re causing problems to the community. If you want the sense I got and this is my own reading I’m not sure that this is what Dr. King necessarily meant, but I got the reading that like, hey,

14:04 if you want people to agree with you, don’t upset the apple cart. We’ve got to get to a place where they’re coming along and they’re understanding. And his response to that is essentially saying, no tension is good because it makes you think. He has this wonderful reference to Socrates and thinking about Socrates’approach, which was, if you’ve read Socrates, I categorize it as kind of annoying, but it’s this constant asking of questions until you get to a place, because it comes into mind. And he says, It in there. If you go back down a little bit, he says, yeah, there it is. Gadfly. It must be nonviolent gadfly. I made that a meme. I made that quote a meme. That’s how much I love this quote. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is Socrates. And oh, my God.

14:51 The gaslight. Oh, Lord. The way he’s wielding classics through these texts and his use of classic literature in, like, here and other things, especially here, is, again, that bridge. We see that pattern with a lot of African American authors and freedom fighters during that time period is using classics as that bridge that come on, let’s come together around this common understanding, around this so you can see that this is a humanity problem. A lot of times we can look at racial issues as that’s a fight that black people have to fight. But if you look at the work of Martin Luther King, he is constantly calling out for everyone, all race, all colors, all backgrounds, all faiths.

15:37 And that’s what he says I have a dream speech. He’s saying, everyone, this is a humanity issue. Let’s come together and let’s not be silent. Let’s create this non. I love how he says nonviolent tension because if he took the nonviolent off, like do whatever you need to do or as some people say, by any means necessary. And that’s not a slight against Malcolm X, but I think Martha King always put that word nonviolent tension to always quantify the process that he’s using, which according to his faith was a very biblical process. It should have been something that really drew them in. Like, let’s join in with this freedom fighter here because he is using a peaceful way, he is using a non violent way to address this humanity issue.

16:25 Yeah, and I think too, it’s worth noting, he’s talking about direct action here, which was the movement of individuals going and doing sit ins, right? It’s calling attention to these laws by a peaceful demonstration and getting arrested like he did himself. And that causes an unsettling of the community because the community is going to respond. And it’s that kind of thing that he’s hoping is moving things forward. And I love that connection you made that he’s building a bridge because he’s putting this in the framework of saying this is a human problem. It’s happening in the south in this particular way. But it is a human problem that we are uncovering. We are addressing it in human ways

17:11 and in that making it this connective moment. And he goes on here again with that sort of exasperated kind of a thing, but saying why this is so necessary based on this idea of him constantly getting told to wait. You have to wait. The time will be right. We’ll get there at some point, but for now, just be patient. And he’s saying, look, it doesn’t, frankly. Not how it works. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in direct action movement that was well timed according to timetables of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. Yeah, and the thing is, when I read this letter, I’m about to explode here. So every time I read it, I’m saying, wait for what are we waiting for?

18:00 What are we waiting for? When I think about Aristotle, how you talk about the first cause, there has to be something that makes something happen. So when we talk about waiting, we’re waiting for what? Like for men to just evolve and magically become more caring about people who don’t look like them. What is going to be the catalyst for that change? When I’m reading it, sometimes I’m fussing at the man as if they’re alive in front of me. I’m like, what? Wait for what? What else should he do? And again, that’s why this particular letter, like, if everyone read this together in community and walks through the issues presented in this letter,

18:47 we would be in different kinds of communities. Right. And you put an ellipse there. But actually, the last line of this paragraph in my version I’m not sure if it’s the same in your version, is not only 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. And he’s quoting another classic. He’s quoting the classics there. But that idea that we have waited for more than 340 years for constitutional and God given rights, and so we’re not like the idea of wait. And I think we hear this a lot from people who are concerned about civic action. Right. That. There’s a fear of the tension that it

19:32 brings into the communities, and there’s a desire to have tensionless resolution. Yes. And I think there is a difference between the violent tension and the nonviolent tension. And so that’s the conversation to have not there shouldn’t be attention. But how do we get to nonviolent attention? Yes. Another thing, I’m assuming they’re thinking, because I hear again, these people he’s addressing and each of the points he’s addressing sadly reminds me of very current conversations I’m having in 2020, in 2021. And so a common going back to these being clergy, there’s a verse that I hear

20:17 currently in these types of discussions, obey those who in authority. So I’ve met Christian school leaders who will not celebrate Martin King Day because he did not obey the laws of the land. Okay? These are religious pastors leaders who have implemented that in their school. And so that is probably a very similar mentality that the men who wrote this, he’s allowing himself to get arrested. I mean, Martin King was breaking the law, which is, don’t let me go there. But he’s. He was, we are going to go there. We’re going to go there next. We’re going to go there. You know what I’m saying? But I’m saying they’re saying, well, he’s breaking the law. You got to obey the law, even though I know it’s not fair. And so he’s saying to not say anything is not correct.

21:07 I’m sure that’s what they’re thinking about him. You’re breaking the law. You got to obey the law, even in how you do this. Let’s go there. Isn’t that the next section, Kirk, that. We’re going to it’s close, but before I wanted to get there, I wanted to talk about what was bringing it about, because I think touching on a team you were touching on earlier is letting the perfect be enemy be good, right. Or focusing so much on the principle that you lose focus on what’s taking place. And I thought that he weaved in this story of talking to his daughter about Funtown, being close to her was such a powerful example of this. And we don’t have to spend too much time on this passage, but I wanted to be sure and included because sometimes in these conversations,

21:53 particularly when we’re thinking about sort of abstract ideas, we lose sight of the human, I mean, the true human cost of this. And to me, this passage brought it just so much into focus in why this word wait is waiting for what? But also, why wait when there’s things we can do to move this forward in a responsible way? And we’re doing it. And this just really spoke to me from that perspective. To that the picture when the Civil Rights Act is passed and him being able to take his daughter to Funtown, he takes a picture with her there. I can imagine his wife’s book, which came out in, I think, 2017 my Life,

22:42 My Love, My Legacy the Autobiography of Coretta Scott King. She talks about the feeling he had being able to take his daughter there, but how that made him feel even more victorious than bringing freedom to the whole nation. Truly, truly powerful, because it’s a human thing. And he’s underlining that here, too. That is a relatable story. Someone who has a child who sees something on television that they cannot be a part of. Please. Yeah, and I think I connect with that because that’s kind of why I’m so passionate about this police reform bill, because I grew up with my brother

23:27 constantly being stopped and mistreated by police. And I mean, he’s been a minister since he was 14. He’s never even been in a fight, but he’s been accused of, where your drugs? Just really not feeling safe. And so there’s a fear you grew up with now, being the mother of two sons, and he has it because he has a twelve year old son, which was the same age as Tamir Rice. And so he and I have this passion about what can we do to stop to create police reform again? We want to change the nation, right? But we’re like, we have sons, they’re going to be driving soon, they’re going to be going off without us one day. What can we do so that we know that as my dad was staying up late at night until we got home from dates or whatever because he knew that this would happen to us, how can we make that not happen for our children?

24:15 You feel that drive you? Absolutely. I think he connects that to this bigger issue, right, because is it very personal, but it’s also, again, he’s having this argument with people who are on his side, but it comes down to principle for him as well. So on the one hand, don’t get so caught up in these principles, but on the other hand, they’re what matter. They’re what drive this conversation forward. And here he has this beautiful conversation that you’re alluding to earlier. Rachel, you really want to get here because it’s just such a powerful thing where you say, look, there are just laws and there are unjust laws. You can tell what they are. And segregation by definition is an unjust law by your own standards,

25:04 not King’s standards, but by your own standards, unconstitutional. And unjust, unjust to the higher authority that you hold dear. And that’s, again, the brilliance of what he does. He knows his audience so well and he knows his Bible verses so well and he knows his biblical fathers like St. Augustine so well. Yes. You can’t outarm you like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He’s going to win the argument because he knows more than you. He has done the work to understand what justice is in a deep, philosophical, spiritual way. And I think, again, that’s why that truth is what speaks to us through this letter.

25:51 And the thing about what Martin King does that a lot of those who have those racist and prejudice tendency is not just that he knows more, but he knows at least the exact same. There is a dependence on black people not reading these laws are created, these things are done, and there’s the expectation they’re not going to read it in. The text he’s pulling from are old, right? And they come from a long tradition that has been debated and discussed for a long time. And that’s powerful because I think what it seems to me is he’s making a prudential argument here that is carefully crafted, very carefully crafted to say, look,

26:39 the tension that I am putting forward here is productive and necessary. And if you think that this is going to unfold magically over time, it’s not going to. And he builds on that too in this passage where he talks about, again, breaking laws, doing it openly and lovingly and in a way that is seen, but he’s not saying in a way that is rude, just violent, or just action or just anything else in that understanding. Again, he’s building it in conjunction with those he’s speaking to as a way of building that bridge, like you said before. Yeah. And that’s why I love that he deals with an unjust law is no law at all. Because going back to that comment I made

27:25 earlier, they were dependent on the Scripture that says, obey those that have the authority over you, you’re disobeying the law. This is why he goes down. This gosh, this argument is so similar to current with, Lord, help me die. But it’s just troubling. But that’s why he breaks down. What do you know what a law is? The thing about it is, Rachel, they knew this. I don’t think he knew more than them. It seems like he does. You know what I mean? I was talking about I wouldn’t win. I don’t know. I wouldn’t either, because they’re clergy. They’ve been to schools of theology. Again, what I think they’re not bringing it up because they’re making the assumption because of the color of his skin that he doesn’t know what they know.

28:12 And it kind of reminds me when they didn’t want Frederick Douglas to read. And the guy says if they read, they start knowing too much, they get a little discontent about their place in society. Right. You know, I’m sorry. Go ahead. No, I was saying, if you read the Bible in this way, you start becoming discontent with what’s going on. Right. And that’s where I think I want to really hone in on this openly and lovingly. When you break the law, you must do it this way and be willing to accept the penalty. And so when I think about how we engage young people in civic action, in protest movements, a nonviolent tension, nonviolent experience is the essence for King, I think, is that you have to be willing to accept the penalty.

29:01 Yes. There has to be attention in order for it to be an act of an act of true resistance. Yes. To make people move. It can’t just be a fashion statement. It can’t be like, hey, look, I got my cute little sign that focus on creating a tension. It has to make people feel uncomfortable. And he says that like a boil that can never be cured as long as it’s covered up. Injustice must be exposed. The tension has to be exposed. One thing I think people don’t realize is his non violent tension is more powerful than violent tension. Because when you have violent tension, you can immediately write it off as look at them. They’re breaking windows,

29:47 they’re hurting the police, they’re really breaking really long. But by him choosing nonviolent resistance, just sitting there sometimes kneeling and praying, can you imagine attention? Can you imagine how troubling it is to be a person who is a church going racist, watching a group of black people kneeling and praying while they’re being arrested? Can you imagine the stirring of the soul that happens watching that, or watching young children who are peacefully protesting being attacked by dogs. But they are trained in nonviolent resistance. So that tension he created through nonviolence. As we’re still protesting this type of injustice today,

30:35 we have lots of different styles of protesting, right, that we’re seeing. And you’re hearing the younger generation say the time of Martin Luther King is gone. But what they don’t realize is that the nonviolent tension creates a stirring of the soul in everybody. Sometimes the hardest part, the most racist part, is stirred by nonviolent tension. And how do I know that? Because the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or Frederick Douglass, who was very nonviolent, he didn’t know Martin Luther King, of course, but he was very nonviolent. And how he spoke out against slavery and as a result of him, he inspired the emancipation of the slaves. And so people need to go back in history

31:22 and look at let’s compare violent tension and nonviolent tension. They both may have been necessary, they may have brought attention to a problem. But which ones change legislation? Which ones were invited to sign a bill? Hello. I just wanted to say that no. I think it’s such a beautiful sentiment. And he says that at the end, that to the light of human conscience in the air of national opinion before it can be cured, which is so powerful. And he goes on to even talk about this even further in the sense of why it’s important to act. And I found this idea of the neutrality of time so powerful because I think often we think, oh, well, things just get better as time progresses along.

32:10 And here he reminds everyone, no, it doesn’t. Even as we’re doing these things and we’re making such progress here, it’s important to remember that that progress is dependent on our action. Even though he says oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come. That’s intention with this idea that time is neutral, right. They’re feeling it. It doesn’t mean they’re going to receive it. And that this action, this tension is needed to move things in a direction that does recognize that fundamental equality of all people and that freedom for all people. Yeah. And to that end, too, he starts talking about extremists, which I love, too, which is, again, right in line with what we were just talking about, because thinking about extremism is a fascinating thing.

33:00 And here he calls into question specifically to these ministers who he’s writing to and calling out Christ’s actions on Calvary’s Hill and saying, look, you’re saying it’s against extremism, but extremism is a powerful thing when deployed in the name of a good cause that’s grounded. And again, King is very measured in the way he’s doing this. So it’s not just action, but clear action. And so I found the concluding sentence here really powerful. So after all, maybe the south, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists, which was really moving. And then he goes on to talk about in this passage I quoted at length.

33:46 But sort of how this fits into the American story and how this action in the south is fitting into the American story. Which. As a civics organization that thinks a lot about the Declaration of Independence and a lot about sort of the American experience in this very clear seeming hypocrisy that existed at the beginning. All men are created equal. Kind of sometimes. In some instances. Is tough to grapple with. Especially in this moment. And here King. Again. I think. Is putting forward another bridge and saying that this is a unified story and that we are all a part of it. And telling it from this perspective that looking at it from the perspective of the enslaved and moving up through the current moment.

34:32 I thought was such a beautiful way of bringing those stories together. Not as separate stories. But as a singular story. Moving more toward the fulfillment of that promise of declaration that all are created equal. Yeah. I mean, that’s the constant topic of conversation, the constant proving of our equality. How are you looking at a human being being treated this way and not moved? Why aren’t we all moved to do something? And again, the deja vuness of this letter is very frustrating to me because I feel the same way.

35:21 How do you look at somebody like George Floyd? I’m just bringing that to current events. How do you look at that video? And every praying person, every non praying person, every breathing person should be just outraged. But we’re arguing. We’re arguing about does there need to be police reformer? Or we’re arguing about who is doing it correctly. And I don’t know if he says it here, but there’s a statement he says in this he says basically he’s troubled that more attention is at how I’m protesting than what I’m protesting about. I don’t know if it’s coming up. And he’s like, Why aren’t we outraged about what I’m protesting about?

36:06 Because there’s a problem with really seeing black people as equally human, no matter how much you try to hide behind Jesus. That is the basic principle. That’s a question here. Absolutely. We have this common heritage of that fulfillment, of the idea that we are equally human, and that should be the thing towards which we are oriented. And here he’s stating plainly, look, this road has been different for all people in this nation, but we are on that road together, and together we are working to accomplish this. So why are we distracting ourselves with this conversation amongst ourselves when we can be acting to reach this level of fulfillment?

36:55 Yes. Nica, I think you’re actually referring to I don’t think Kirk put it in the slides, but it’s the last couple of paragraphs before the ending where he talks about? He actually is talking about the police. And he says, it is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense, they have conducted themselves rather nonviolently. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. But then he goes on to say, but I now must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Yes. I wish you had commended the Negro Sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer, and their amazing discipline in the midst of great publication.

37:40 One day the south will recognize its real heroes. And then he goes on to list a number of the heroes. One day, one day soon, hopefully, one day, we’ll recognize the real heroes. Yes. I think we are one of the things and we’ll get to this kind of like what our general impressions are. But really, the other thing that I find so compelling about this is it’s spirit of optimism. Yes. Right. Like, this is the hope. Right. So is that the next where you’re going, Kirk? Next slide. I’m actually going right to the conclusion. I love it because I find again, I like openings, I like conclusions because I think they’re central. And then he ends this with,

38:26 I hope this letter finds you strong in faith is such a powerful thing and that his conclusion is yours for the cause of peace and brotherhood. Again, it’s greater than us. What we’re doing is greater than us. And to be mindful of that, I think, is part of his goal for this letter. Not only to argue his case, but to be mindful that this is a big thing we are undertaking and it is an assertion of a truth that we share and a conviction that we share. And we are only going to be successful if we are able to do that together. Yes. I mean, such a lovely I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you not as integrationist or a civil

39:16 rights leader, but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. So on the one hand, he is laying it down. He is unpacking that thing, but he ends again with love. He begins with love. He sprinkles love throughout, and then he ends on love. Would you read that last sentence? Because this last sentence always makes me cry when I read this article. Yeah, the very last thing. Let us hope let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misundersunerstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities and some not too distant. Tomorrow, the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating beauty.

40:05 Come on. I love him. He is just I don’t know. And you know, what? I love what he did with his fear. He talks about fear. Black people have fear. And a lot of times when you talk to people who have racist or prejudiced tendencies and don’t realize it, you can hear fear of fear of losing something, of fear of us because of how the media sometimes misfortrays black people. But there’s fear on both sides. And that fear keeps us under this cloud, as he said, of misunderstanding. Misunderstanding. Because the truth, the radiant star, is that we are brothers.

40:51 Like there’s a love and brotherhood that will shine over that will shine in all its scintillating beauty over our great nation. He said scintillating. What a choice of words. It’s just so powerful. It is. Well, thank you both so much for joining me. I wish we could go through even more. The letter. Like, Rachel, I think you said we could probably spend months unpacking this letter, but I truly appreciate both of you joining me. I truly appreciate your insights. I really enjoyed it. So thank you both so much, and. Thank you so much for letting me be. Thank you. This was super fun. Yes, it was awesome. Thank you all so much. Absolutely.