I celebrated Martin Luther King Day this year by rereading his Letter from Birmingham Jail. To think that a document written nearly 60 years ago could still be so relevant to the events of today.
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. … For years now I have heard the word “wait.” It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “wait” has almost always meant “never.” It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration. We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
“There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.”
We only need to look at the past few years to see that for many, the cup of endurance has run over, and impatience abounds. However, we can continue to learn from the rest of MLK’s words and teachings to make sure that we, in our frustration, actions, allyship and unavoidable impatience, do not begin to use immoral means to attain moral ends nor support the use moral means to preserve immoral ends.