Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Cookiees have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Cookie homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Cookie leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation…. You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. —“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. What grounds does King use to support the need for protest? Check all of the boxes that are correct based on this passage. Birmingham courts have been unjust to African Americans. City leaders refuse to negotiate in good faith with African Americans. Marches are vehicles for negotiation.
Join our real-time social learning platform and learn together with your friends!