Martin Luther King; subjugation is an intrinsic flaw of society; Sam Smathers 4th

Martin Luther King's 'Letter From Birmingham Jail'

By: The Editors (from the Atlantic), actual letter written by Martin Luther King

Commentary by: Sam Smathers 4th

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail/274668/

            The original “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King Jr. was submitted to The Atlantic in the 1960s and published shortly thereafter. He wrote this letter to a few white men that were criticizing King and his brothers for protesting segregation. The whole letter is about how segregation is an act of civil injustice and goes against the moral code of man and god. King says it is his duty to be where injustice is to bring justice and he reminds the audience various times that an unjust law is no law at all, therefore it is our job to disobey these unjust laws.

            Martin Luther King is not wrong; segregation against African Americans is unjust. Segregation is unjust because no one is better than anyone else, but we subscribe to government, education systems, and parenting, all of which place someone in an inferior position to someone else, therefore segregation as a system is no worse than any of these others in concept, but in practice due to extreme amounts violence and psychological damage segregation can be deemed to be the worst system.  Our society is structured on the fundamental value of subjugating a certain group of people for the gain of another. The United States could not function without poor people, because they serve as an example of someone that in some way did not complete the system, whether this fact is true or not on an individual basis for poor people, we are lead to believe that by not completing school, or disobeying the government we will end up on the streets living in a box. King wants equality for all, but his goal is impossible, equality doesn’t exist, and it never will. Unless we lived in small nomadic tribes and had an extremely tight society where we only responded to ourselves and trusted friends by choice. That is the only true way to reach equality and the fulfillment of human rights. Besides King being a mild leftist as Kaczynski would say, I truly enjoy and admire his courage and skill in crafting speeches and harmonizing literary devices. His quest for human justice has helped many other subjugated people break free of their bonds and grow to impact the globe in enormous ways. In no way am I belittling human rights or King’s work, I am simply saying that I do not think equality can ever exist in this society because of its intrinsic flaws.

*A leftist is someone who associates with a minority group and proclaims that they are being subjugated whether it is true or not for the purpose of declaring rights. Kaczynski argues that by grouping together and demanding change these people find fulfillment in this and then never want the struggle to end because the struggle is their life. He also says that by acknowledging the injustice the advocates are actually creating the discrimination.

**I believe that the 1900s happened, and injustice for African Americans was real. I would be associating King only with the aspects of leftism such as grouping together large masses of people for a singular cause. I now believe that racism is more of a true leftist movement, only existing to give people purpose because the injustice is now, in modern American society, more of an illusion especially in the younger generations. 

I hope you liked it Meg.