summary of martin luther king letter from birmingham jail
Letter from Birmingham Jail
King began the letter by responding to the criticism that he and his fellow activists were `` outsiders '' causing trouble in the streets of Birmingham . To this , King referred to his responsibility as the leader of the SCLC , which had numerous affiliated organizations throughout the South . `` I was invited '' by our Birmingham affiliate `` because injustice is here '' , in what is probably the most racially divided city in the country , with its brutal police , unjust courts , and many `` unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches . '' Referring to his belief that all communities and states were interrelated , King wrote , `` 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 ... Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds . '' King also warned that if white people successfully rejected his nonviolent activists as rabble - rousing outside agitators , this could encourage millions of African Americans to `` seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies , a development that will lead inevitably to a frightening racial nightmare . ''
King began the letter by responding to the criticism that he and his fellow activists were `` outsiders '' causing trouble in the streets of Birmingham . To this , King referred to his responsibility as the leader of the SCLC , which had numerous affiliated organizations throughout the South . `` I was invited '' by our Birmingham affiliate `` because injustice is here '' , in what is probably the most racially divided city in the country , with its brutal police , unjust courts , and many `` unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches . '' Referring to his belief that all communities and states were interrelated , King wrote , `` 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 ... Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds . '' King also warned that if white people successfully rejected his nonviolent activists as rabble - rousing outside agitators , this could encourage millions of African Americans to `` seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies , a development that will lead inevitably to a frightening racial nightmare . ''