Campo, Mary Angelique G. Jan.

30, 2023
UCOS 1-2 The Contemporary World

A Critique on an Excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.

On April 12, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested following a protest from which he
was arrested for parading without a permit. Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent social rights
activist from the South United States in the 1950s and 60s. It is important to note that this
decade was crucial to igniting the civil rights movement to uphold racial equality. This was a
turning point to black and white racial segregation that treated blacks as ‘second-class citizens’
after the abolishment of slavery in 1865.

The following is an excerpt from King’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” which was
written from a jail cell after King and many of his peers were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama
because they nonviolently protested segregation laws. The letter was a response addressed to
his fellow clergymen and religious figures who denounced his campaign the day before his
arrest following a “Call to Unity” issue published in the newspaper which criticized and
condemned his methods.

Excerpt:
“…I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in
Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat
to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a
single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never
be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure
of reality.”

The statement highlighted above is a powerful statement which describes our interwoven
relationship with one another which King equates to mutualism. The excerpt looks at society
and equality which in his writing is a timeless and accurate description of his beliefs that war,
racism and economic injustice are all intertwined (McCarthy, 2016). Our interrelatedness with
one another makes it so that our actions have direct and indirect consequences despite our
differences. Under the same society, infringement of one’s rights also poses an indirect threat to
others. Upholding the rights of individuals entails analysis on moral, legal, ethical and political
grounds that should be equally probed, thus neglecting or creating bias on a particular group is
a threat to all parties, not just the one being oppressed.

Today, many people are currently silent despite having a moral obligation to resist the
current president's oppressive brand of politics, one which breeds a culture of impunity among
its ranks and cronies. It is a sad and agitating plight that injustices are commonly forgotten or
dismissed because they are not directly affected by the oppression and abuse of power that
injustice commonly takes form of. As Simone de Beauvoir puts it, “The oppressor would not be
so strong if he did not have accomplices among the oppressed.” Silence is always a tacit
indication of approval. Even if it wasn't your intention, the oppressors would still see it that way.
There will be no motivation to stop any wrongdoing if there are no consequences. This is a daily
struggle for those oppressed in all walks of life — among women, peasants, farmers, laborers to
simple industry working class citizens. Communities in the upper echelons of society are not
aware and are not concerned with the same issues as those of the urban poor. CEOs,
capitalists and employers are not concerned with the continual dismissal of issuing a higher
minimum wage. Non-agriculture sector is not concerned with how farmers earn little to no wage
as their produce is bought at unlivable prices. These issues are currently being brought to light
by activists, leaders, and revolutionaries through nonviolent protests and campaigns led by
resilient groups that have successfully overthrown dictatorships in the past, including the
Marcos dictatorship in 1986 — and it can be done again.

Calls for genuine agrarian reform go back further, even before the Hacienda Luisita
massacre. Farmers have been too far long oppressed as their means of production is stolen
and capitalized away from them. This is done so by intimidation and brutal crackdowns of
leaders and farmers who amplify the cause to make a genuine difference in their communities.
For activists, kidnappings, countless killings of student leaders and direct involvement in their
education as with the termination of the UP-DND accord and mandatory ROTC are put into
place to keep the youth from mobilizing and organizing themselves. Thousands of the poor were
targeted and framed in an illegal drug war. Then comes the people who take the course of
justice into their own hands to join armed revolutionaries. These are everyday struggles from
the oppressed members of our society and their dissent is systematically silenced. Just as King
defends his stance on taking the protests to the streets where dissent cannot be anymore
ignored, these people cannot wait for the courts to simply appeal their demands.

As William Faulkner says, “Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and
compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world … would do this, it
would change the earth,” we must “speak truth to power" when confronted with injustice and
abuse. We must not keep silent while wrongdoing is being committed. We have a responsibility
to speak up; and remaining silent is morally unacceptable.
 References

Eyefletch. (2016, July 30). MLK Letter from Birmingham jail [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrWZkzgDcrQ

“Letter from Birmingham Jail.” (2019, May 29). The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and

Education Institute. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/letter-birmingham-jail

Tchividjian, B. E. (2018, February 27). The Ethics of Silence and of Speaking Up – PRsay.

https://prsay.prsa.org/2018/02/27/the-ethics-of-silence-and-of-speaking-up/