On CapehartJ's 'Voices of the Movement' Episode 3: How MLK’s famous letter was smuggled out of jail.
By Jonathan Capehart Jonathan Capehart Opinion writer focusing on the intersection of social and cultural issues and politics Email Bio Follow Opinion writer April 18 at 9:00 AM [Listen to the entire"Voices of the Movement" podcast series]
In some ways, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a relic from another America when segregation ruled. Yet, the document’s lasting power is revealed in just how relevant King’s words are in today’s America, more than 50 years later.Because the man who helped it come into existence will be the first one to tell you that he couldn’t have cared less what was being written. He had other things to worry about.Clarence B. Jones, personal attorney to Martin Luther King Jr.
Alabama’s governor was George Wallace, who famously said “Segregation now, segregation forever.” And that played itself out in Birmingham — in all aspects of life, from stores to restaurants to public transportation. Blacks and whites were kept separate, by law. JONES: He said to me, “But have you seen this?” I said, “What are you talking about?” He pulls up a full-page ad from the Birmingham Herald. And then that full-page ad was a letter from a group of local white clergymen who were critical of him for having come to Birmingham and stirring up the people, as they said — protests. And he was really upset.
JONES: There was nothing I could say to him about any other subject other than, “Take these, what I’ve written.” And I said, “What is this?” He had started to write on anything that was a blank paper. The blank part of a dirty newspaper, where the copy and the advertising wasn’t — you know, where there was blank space. Paper towels, paper napkin.But over the next few days, I was bringing him paper and taking back what he had written. I would take them and put them under my shirt.
JONES: The first time I ever read the completed “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was about six weeks later. And that occurred because I was in Atlanta in his office.JONES: -- was out at some meeting and Dora said, “Oh I’m so glad you’re here Mr. Jones, because Christianity in crisis, they want to republish Martin’s letter. And I told them they first had to check with you, copyright matters and so forth.
JONES: I read it a couple times, right there for the first time. The section that was so moving to me is when he responds to the minister’s characterization of him as being impatient, and he says, “Why wait?” I spoke with Branch at the civil rights salon that Jones organized and as Jones says, “Taylor is an encyclopedia of knowledge on the movement.” If Taylor didn’t write about it, it probably didn’t happen.
I've argued, and I think many people agree now, that this was a great psychological watershed for the country that the photographs of dogs and fire hoses on small children went all around the world and broke the emotional resistance that the country had to doing something about segregation. It was in the wake of that that demonstrations broke out all over the country. I think there were 750 demonstrations within the next few weeks.
CAPEHART: People did end up paying attention to it. Like Taylor said, after the eight days King spent in jail, the Birmingham campaign ramped up.
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