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King Legacy #4
Why We Can't Wait
'Lightning makes no sound until it strikes'
This is the momentous story of the Civil Rights movement, told by one of its most powerful and eloquent voices. Here Martin Luther King, Jr. recounts the pivotal events in the city of Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 that propelled his non-violent campaign for racial justice from a movement of lunch counter sit-ins and prayer meetings to a phenomenon that 'rocked the richest, most powerful nation to its foundations'.
As inspiring and resonant as it was upon publication, Why We Can't Wait is both a unique historical document, and an enduring testament to one man's wise, courageous and endlessly hopeful vision.
This is the momentous story of the Civil Rights movement, told by one of its most powerful and eloquent voices. Here Martin Luther King, Jr. recounts the pivotal events in the city of Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 that propelled his non-violent campaign for racial justice from a movement of lunch counter sit-ins and prayer meetings to a phenomenon that 'rocked the richest, most powerful nation to its foundations'.
As inspiring and resonant as it was upon publication, Why We Can't Wait is both a unique historical document, and an enduring testament to one man's wise, courageous and endlessly hopeful vision.
193 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1964
764 people are currently reading
21568 people want to read
About the author
Martin Luther King Jr.
458 books3,512 followersMartin Luther King, Jr. was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Here he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 788 reviews
January 19, 2009
I read this book in high school at a time when I was just beginning to truly understand the Civil Rights movement. This book changed my life. I don't care if that sounds cliche or whatever, but there is no way a person can read a book like Why We Can't Wait, and experience Dr. Martin Luther King's more than deeply profound rhetoric of freedom and equality and then turn around and aim for mediocrity. I have a lot more to say but I shall save my thoughts and pour them into action.
June 26, 2012
This is one of the - if not the - best of King's books, as it details the crucial Birmingham campaign and features at its heart the incredible Letter from Birmingham Jail. Although always positive in tone, it deals with the realities of a campaign that is now viewed as pivotal to the success of the American Civil Rights Movement but that was anything but assured in its own time. That King acknowledges this reality while placing it in a constructive context all the while advancing his positive, forward-looking message is a testament to his vision and incredibly forgiving perseverance.
Whitewashed now by its success and the sands of time, most people remember Birmingham as an unqualified success, if at all, yet it was by no means that. It was a difficult campaign - with the city's incredibly intransigent Jim Crow establishment, its fiery Public Safety Director Bull Connor, its disunity within the then-Negro community, etc. - that came very close to failing. Had it failed, the Civil Rights Movement could have been dealt a virtually fatal blow. Instead, a key points in the struggle, King and his partners in the leadership of the campaign were able to come together and make progress in daunting cirmcumstances.
One example is the controversial decision to use children as demonstrators. A highly controversial tactic, it was they key to turning the tide in what was until that point a failing campaign. It ended up producing several important outcomes, including revitalizing and actually pushing the campaign over the top and also evidencing that the children of Birmingham actually led their parents by their quiet, courageous example. Initially, King was vilified for approving the Rev. James Bevel's strategy, but he proved stalwart in the face of widespread internal and external criticism and eventually victorious.
Another misperception about the campaign is that it was an unqualified success, which is was not by any means. Its victories were mainly symbolic and the practical effects were minor for some time due to the obfuscation and deliberately slow implementation of the agreement by the city leaders. King deals with this diplomatically but clearly and with evident disappointment and pain. It turns out that Birminigham's true contributions were strategic in nature, establishing the pivotal assault of the thereafter crumbling institution of Jim Crow.
It's these gritty yet honestly conveyed insights - in addition to the outstanding Letter from Birmingham Jail that is the heart and soul of the book - that make this such a worthwhile and satisfying read. It's hard to read about the discrimination and racism, but the story of the eventual triumph ultimately overshadows this, with the result that the overall story is an uplifting and inspiring one. One sees here in all of his moral and pragmatic glory a leader who is committed to effecting positive change and yet honest enough to share his own challenges and doubts.
Yes, there are a few challenges with the book, including that King sometimes is too generous and constructive about certain events (whereas Branch or Garrow and others have been more revealing), but it is a minor annoyance compared with the incredible story within the story and the towering moral leadership - especially as demonstrated in the Letter from Birmingham Jail - that is evidenced herein.
As I read this book for the third time and discovered new insights as well as appreciated old ones anew, I couldn't help but compare MLK to our current leadership and, frankly, be saddened. There are few people of his level of courage and conviction today, but there is a shining example for them to emulate should they emerge, especially as captured in this book.
I recommend Why We Can't Wait highly to all who have a sincere interest in figuring out how to effect moral, positive change and to anyone who appreciates the importance of learning from history in order to fashion a better future.
Whitewashed now by its success and the sands of time, most people remember Birmingham as an unqualified success, if at all, yet it was by no means that. It was a difficult campaign - with the city's incredibly intransigent Jim Crow establishment, its fiery Public Safety Director Bull Connor, its disunity within the then-Negro community, etc. - that came very close to failing. Had it failed, the Civil Rights Movement could have been dealt a virtually fatal blow. Instead, a key points in the struggle, King and his partners in the leadership of the campaign were able to come together and make progress in daunting cirmcumstances.
One example is the controversial decision to use children as demonstrators. A highly controversial tactic, it was they key to turning the tide in what was until that point a failing campaign. It ended up producing several important outcomes, including revitalizing and actually pushing the campaign over the top and also evidencing that the children of Birmingham actually led their parents by their quiet, courageous example. Initially, King was vilified for approving the Rev. James Bevel's strategy, but he proved stalwart in the face of widespread internal and external criticism and eventually victorious.
Another misperception about the campaign is that it was an unqualified success, which is was not by any means. Its victories were mainly symbolic and the practical effects were minor for some time due to the obfuscation and deliberately slow implementation of the agreement by the city leaders. King deals with this diplomatically but clearly and with evident disappointment and pain. It turns out that Birminigham's true contributions were strategic in nature, establishing the pivotal assault of the thereafter crumbling institution of Jim Crow.
It's these gritty yet honestly conveyed insights - in addition to the outstanding Letter from Birmingham Jail that is the heart and soul of the book - that make this such a worthwhile and satisfying read. It's hard to read about the discrimination and racism, but the story of the eventual triumph ultimately overshadows this, with the result that the overall story is an uplifting and inspiring one. One sees here in all of his moral and pragmatic glory a leader who is committed to effecting positive change and yet honest enough to share his own challenges and doubts.
Yes, there are a few challenges with the book, including that King sometimes is too generous and constructive about certain events (whereas Branch or Garrow and others have been more revealing), but it is a minor annoyance compared with the incredible story within the story and the towering moral leadership - especially as demonstrated in the Letter from Birmingham Jail - that is evidenced herein.
As I read this book for the third time and discovered new insights as well as appreciated old ones anew, I couldn't help but compare MLK to our current leadership and, frankly, be saddened. There are few people of his level of courage and conviction today, but there is a shining example for them to emulate should they emerge, especially as captured in this book.
I recommend Why We Can't Wait highly to all who have a sincere interest in figuring out how to effect moral, positive change and to anyone who appreciates the importance of learning from history in order to fashion a better future.
February 14, 2013
Wow. How sad is it that I live in Alabama, and I never knew that in 1963, Birmingham was considered to be the most segregated city in America?
Martin Luther King, Jr's Why We Can't Wait is an excellent treatise on the race issues still facing our country 50 years ago - 100 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
This book is about non-violent revolution. About some of the turning points in American history 50 years ago, especially in Birmingham.
Please read this. We, especially those of us who are white, need to understand our history as a country. We need to know what really goes on; when those of us born into privilege don't understand why those who aren't feel oppressed.
Think about how many of King's statements in this book still apply today.
And think about what you can do to make a difference.
Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture...but groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Martin Luther King, Jr's Why We Can't Wait is an excellent treatise on the race issues still facing our country 50 years ago - 100 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
This book is about non-violent revolution. About some of the turning points in American history 50 years ago, especially in Birmingham.
Please read this. We, especially those of us who are white, need to understand our history as a country. We need to know what really goes on; when those of us born into privilege don't understand why those who aren't feel oppressed.
Think about how many of King's statements in this book still apply today.
And think about what you can do to make a difference.
Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture...but groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
January 16, 2026
Martin Luther King's Why We Can't Wait
A new anthology on Martin Luther King's political philosophy, "To Shape a New World" (2018) edited by Harvard University professors Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry has inspired me to read or reread the five books that King published during his life. Published in 1964, King's third book, "Why We Can't Wait" focuses on the 1963 Civil Rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. King and others had described Birmingham as the most segregated city in America. The national exposure the Birmingham Civil Rights Campaign received and the brutality of the police response under "Bull" Connor to the demonstrations led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
King organized the book around his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" which forms the fifth of the work's eight chapters. Beginning in April, 1963, King had been leading a boycott of stores in downtown Birmingham and leading a voter registration drive and a series of demonstrations. The demonstrations had been going slowly , although many participants had been arrested. King decided to violate a local court order and to participate in a march anticipating his likely arrest. King was arrested and was held in jail for eight days and during his confinement wrote this "Letter".
King's "Letter" was a response to a published statement by eight Montgomery clergymen criticizing the ongoing Montgomery demonstrations as unwise and untimely and asking for a more moderate approach to change including negotiations with the city leaders. The statement criticized "outsiders", including King, getting involved and inflaming the situation in Montgomery. King gave an eloquent response which emphasized the long history of discrimination against African Americans and the pressing need for justice in Birmingham. King had been invited to Birmingham by the local civil rights leadership, but his response is much broader and discusses the moral responsibility to fight injustice where it occurs. King's Letter invokes what is known as natural law and discusses the ways of identifying the difference between "just" and "unjust" laws. As the Letter goes forward, King adopts an increasingly passionate tone, criticizes moderates and established churches for their timidity, and explains the need for African Americans to move forward to secure their right to human dignity. King's "Letter" has become a classic in American political thought and American literature.
The remainder of "Why We Can't Wait" is effectively organized around the "Letter". It gives King's own perspective of the history of the Birmingham movement just as his earlier book "Stride Toward Freedom" had given King's perspective on the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott. The book is both a historical document and an explanation of the approach and goals of the Civil Rights Movement.
In the opening chapter King explores the significance of the year 1863, a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, for the outbreak of what he termed the Negro Revolution. King continues in the second chapter with a history of discrimination in the Reconstruction years and up to King's time, and discusses the considerations which led to the Birmingham campaign. King next describes segregated Birmingham under "Bull" Connor, a nemesis of the Civil Rights Movement, and then discusses the early stages of the Birmingham Campaign.
Following the "Letter" the book then continues with the involvement of the Kennedy Administration and a series of agreements reached with the business and political leaders of Birmingham. Unfortunately, the success of the agreement was short-lived, as a wave of violence from die-hard segregationists hit Birmingham, including the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, which killed four young girls attending Sunday school. Only many years after the event and after King's death were participants in the bombing apprehended and brought to justice. In the final chapter of his book, King addresses the need for additional measures, including a form of reparations, to address the poverty and lack of opportunity plaguing African Americans. King also offers perceptive comments on Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson and their strengths and weaknesses in the struggle for civil rights.
"Why We Can't Wait" is an extraordinary book and probably the best of King's five books. King worked carefully on the book and also had the assistance in its writing of several of his associates. The book offers King's own perspective on the Birmingham Campaign and its aftermath. In the "Letter" and throughout the book, King explains eloquently and passionately the necessity for the Civil Rights Revolution and the importance and nature of the philosophy and practice of nonviolence in securing just social change.
Robin Friedman
A new anthology on Martin Luther King's political philosophy, "To Shape a New World" (2018) edited by Harvard University professors Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry has inspired me to read or reread the five books that King published during his life. Published in 1964, King's third book, "Why We Can't Wait" focuses on the 1963 Civil Rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. King and others had described Birmingham as the most segregated city in America. The national exposure the Birmingham Civil Rights Campaign received and the brutality of the police response under "Bull" Connor to the demonstrations led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
King organized the book around his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" which forms the fifth of the work's eight chapters. Beginning in April, 1963, King had been leading a boycott of stores in downtown Birmingham and leading a voter registration drive and a series of demonstrations. The demonstrations had been going slowly , although many participants had been arrested. King decided to violate a local court order and to participate in a march anticipating his likely arrest. King was arrested and was held in jail for eight days and during his confinement wrote this "Letter".
King's "Letter" was a response to a published statement by eight Montgomery clergymen criticizing the ongoing Montgomery demonstrations as unwise and untimely and asking for a more moderate approach to change including negotiations with the city leaders. The statement criticized "outsiders", including King, getting involved and inflaming the situation in Montgomery. King gave an eloquent response which emphasized the long history of discrimination against African Americans and the pressing need for justice in Birmingham. King had been invited to Birmingham by the local civil rights leadership, but his response is much broader and discusses the moral responsibility to fight injustice where it occurs. King's Letter invokes what is known as natural law and discusses the ways of identifying the difference between "just" and "unjust" laws. As the Letter goes forward, King adopts an increasingly passionate tone, criticizes moderates and established churches for their timidity, and explains the need for African Americans to move forward to secure their right to human dignity. King's "Letter" has become a classic in American political thought and American literature.
The remainder of "Why We Can't Wait" is effectively organized around the "Letter". It gives King's own perspective of the history of the Birmingham movement just as his earlier book "Stride Toward Freedom" had given King's perspective on the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott. The book is both a historical document and an explanation of the approach and goals of the Civil Rights Movement.
In the opening chapter King explores the significance of the year 1863, a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, for the outbreak of what he termed the Negro Revolution. King continues in the second chapter with a history of discrimination in the Reconstruction years and up to King's time, and discusses the considerations which led to the Birmingham campaign. King next describes segregated Birmingham under "Bull" Connor, a nemesis of the Civil Rights Movement, and then discusses the early stages of the Birmingham Campaign.
Following the "Letter" the book then continues with the involvement of the Kennedy Administration and a series of agreements reached with the business and political leaders of Birmingham. Unfortunately, the success of the agreement was short-lived, as a wave of violence from die-hard segregationists hit Birmingham, including the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, which killed four young girls attending Sunday school. Only many years after the event and after King's death were participants in the bombing apprehended and brought to justice. In the final chapter of his book, King addresses the need for additional measures, including a form of reparations, to address the poverty and lack of opportunity plaguing African Americans. King also offers perceptive comments on Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson and their strengths and weaknesses in the struggle for civil rights.
"Why We Can't Wait" is an extraordinary book and probably the best of King's five books. King worked carefully on the book and also had the assistance in its writing of several of his associates. The book offers King's own perspective on the Birmingham Campaign and its aftermath. In the "Letter" and throughout the book, King explains eloquently and passionately the necessity for the Civil Rights Revolution and the importance and nature of the philosophy and practice of nonviolence in securing just social change.
Robin Friedman
June 19, 2020
This book includes Dr. King's stirring "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." I can't really write a review, so I'll just say I learned a lot of things here on Juneteeth. I was born and raised in segregationist Virginia, so Dr. King's writings have a particular relevance to me and help me to understand better about hate and racism.
January 16, 2023
When reading Why We Can't Wait, one gets a sense of what Martin Luther King Jr. faced at a crucial point in his career as a civil-rights activist; and Dr. King emerges from the pages of this book not as a distant icon, but as a great, and humanly great, individual. He is also a brilliant writer, and one of the greatest rhetoricians in all of American history, as Why We Can't Wait amply demonstrates.
The central subject of Why We Can't Wait is the civil-rights campaign that Dr. King led in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. In Birmingham, as in all of the other campaigns of his civil-rights career, Dr. King’s commitment to using non-violent direct action as a means of combatting segregation was absolute: “Nonviolence,” he writes, “is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals” (p. 26).
The stakes were high; Dr. King explains that he and fellow activists "believed that while a campaign in Birmingham would surely be the toughest fight of our civil-rights careers, it could, if successful, break the back of segregation all over the nation" (p. 47). Dr. King knew that the opposition to his campaign would be severe, and would be led by one of the most notorious Southern segregationists, Eugene “Bull” Connor, whose official title of “Commissioner of Public Safety” belied the fact that his central concern was not the maintenance of public safety but rather the preservation of a white-supremacist political and social system in a city that remained, in 1963, the most completely segregated major city in the U.S.A. “In Bull Connor’s Birmingham,” Dr. King writes, “you would be a resident of a city where a United States senator, visiting to deliver a speech, had been arrested because he walked through a door marked ‘Colored’” (p. 50).
The centerpiece of this book is Chapter 5, "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Written, as its title indicates, from a cell in the Birmingham jail, it has a rich story of its own. After “Bull” Connor had secured an injunction against civil-rights marches in April of 1963, Dr. King had marched anyway, and had been arrested and jailed. Held for a time in solitary confinement, Dr. King took comfort from knowing that a call to the White House from his wife Coretta Scott King had U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy working on Dr. King’s case; additionally, celebrities like Harry Belafonte and ordinary people across the nation were working together to support Dr. King’s campaign. “I had never been truly in solitary confinement,” Dr. King tells the reader; “God’s companionship does not stop at the door of a jail cell. I don’t know whether the sun was shining at that moment. But I know that once again I could see the light” (p. 75).
While Dr. King was imprisoned in the Birmingham jail, eight Alabama clergymen had published an open letter, calling on Dr. King and his fellow civil-rights activists to end their Birmingham campaign. In response, writing on whatever paper was available to him in the jail -- newspaper margins, scraps of paper -- Dr. King demolished his opponents' arguments with a beautifully written masterpiece of rhetoric. The book's title no doubt comes from passages like this one:
For years now, I have heard the word “Wait.” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our most distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” (p. 83)
Or this one:
Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society;...when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” -- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. (pp. 83-84)
The letter is a masterpiece. For me, the only writings in the history of American rhetoric that compare with it are Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address (Dr. King cites both Jefferson and Lincoln in his letter). Equally compelling is the way the letter fits into Dr. King's overall narrative of an embattled civil-rights movement gaining momentum and changing American society for the better.
At this distance in time from the era in which Dr. King lived and wrote, it is easy to forget how immense were the dangers that he and his fellow activists faced. Dr. King writes with pride of how his followers responded non-violently to the violence that “Bull” Connor unleashed against demonstrators: “This was the time of our greatest stress, and the courage and conviction of those students and adults made it our finest hour. We did not fight back, but we did not turn back. We did not give way to bitterness.” Dr. King adds that “In the face of this resolution and bravery, the moral conscience of the nation was deeply stirred and, all over the country, our fight became the fight of decent Americans of all races and creeds” (p. 100).
Why We Can't Wait concludes by moving from the activism at Birmingham in the spring of 1963 to the March on Washington later that same year, and reminds the reader of the historical context behind the march. The summer of 1963 was a time of widespread white backlash against civil-rights reform, and it was against that background that the March on Washington occurred.
Many in Washington, both within and outside the U.S. government, opposed the March, fearing that it would become an occasion for violence; but of course, nothing of the kind happened, and the March helped to increase support for civil-rights reform across the nation. The March on Washington, as Dr. King points out, “was the first organized Negro operation which was accorded respect and coverage commensurate with its importance”; it was an “extraordinary gathering” that gave “everyone who believed in man’s capacity to better himself…a moment of inspiration and confidence in the future of the human race” (pp. 124-25).
While I might have wished that Why We Can’t Wait could have included Dr. King's immortal “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered as it was at the climax of the March on Washington, the book is more than sufficient as it is.
Dr. King's powerful writing is supplemented by photographs of both the Birmingham campaign and the March on Washington. Why We Can't Wait is an extremely powerful look back at a crucial time in the history of the fight for civil rights in the United States of America. It is also an important reminder that Martin Luther King Jr. should be remembered not as a distant icon, but as a flesh-and-blood man who had the courage to do what needed to be done when the critical moment arrived.
The central subject of Why We Can't Wait is the civil-rights campaign that Dr. King led in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. In Birmingham, as in all of the other campaigns of his civil-rights career, Dr. King’s commitment to using non-violent direct action as a means of combatting segregation was absolute: “Nonviolence,” he writes, “is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals” (p. 26).
The stakes were high; Dr. King explains that he and fellow activists "believed that while a campaign in Birmingham would surely be the toughest fight of our civil-rights careers, it could, if successful, break the back of segregation all over the nation" (p. 47). Dr. King knew that the opposition to his campaign would be severe, and would be led by one of the most notorious Southern segregationists, Eugene “Bull” Connor, whose official title of “Commissioner of Public Safety” belied the fact that his central concern was not the maintenance of public safety but rather the preservation of a white-supremacist political and social system in a city that remained, in 1963, the most completely segregated major city in the U.S.A. “In Bull Connor’s Birmingham,” Dr. King writes, “you would be a resident of a city where a United States senator, visiting to deliver a speech, had been arrested because he walked through a door marked ‘Colored’” (p. 50).
The centerpiece of this book is Chapter 5, "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Written, as its title indicates, from a cell in the Birmingham jail, it has a rich story of its own. After “Bull” Connor had secured an injunction against civil-rights marches in April of 1963, Dr. King had marched anyway, and had been arrested and jailed. Held for a time in solitary confinement, Dr. King took comfort from knowing that a call to the White House from his wife Coretta Scott King had U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy working on Dr. King’s case; additionally, celebrities like Harry Belafonte and ordinary people across the nation were working together to support Dr. King’s campaign. “I had never been truly in solitary confinement,” Dr. King tells the reader; “God’s companionship does not stop at the door of a jail cell. I don’t know whether the sun was shining at that moment. But I know that once again I could see the light” (p. 75).
While Dr. King was imprisoned in the Birmingham jail, eight Alabama clergymen had published an open letter, calling on Dr. King and his fellow civil-rights activists to end their Birmingham campaign. In response, writing on whatever paper was available to him in the jail -- newspaper margins, scraps of paper -- Dr. King demolished his opponents' arguments with a beautifully written masterpiece of rhetoric. The book's title no doubt comes from passages like this one:
For years now, I have heard the word “Wait.” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our most distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” (p. 83)
Or this one:
Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society;...when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” -- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. (pp. 83-84)
The letter is a masterpiece. For me, the only writings in the history of American rhetoric that compare with it are Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address (Dr. King cites both Jefferson and Lincoln in his letter). Equally compelling is the way the letter fits into Dr. King's overall narrative of an embattled civil-rights movement gaining momentum and changing American society for the better.
At this distance in time from the era in which Dr. King lived and wrote, it is easy to forget how immense were the dangers that he and his fellow activists faced. Dr. King writes with pride of how his followers responded non-violently to the violence that “Bull” Connor unleashed against demonstrators: “This was the time of our greatest stress, and the courage and conviction of those students and adults made it our finest hour. We did not fight back, but we did not turn back. We did not give way to bitterness.” Dr. King adds that “In the face of this resolution and bravery, the moral conscience of the nation was deeply stirred and, all over the country, our fight became the fight of decent Americans of all races and creeds” (p. 100).
Why We Can't Wait concludes by moving from the activism at Birmingham in the spring of 1963 to the March on Washington later that same year, and reminds the reader of the historical context behind the march. The summer of 1963 was a time of widespread white backlash against civil-rights reform, and it was against that background that the March on Washington occurred.
Many in Washington, both within and outside the U.S. government, opposed the March, fearing that it would become an occasion for violence; but of course, nothing of the kind happened, and the March helped to increase support for civil-rights reform across the nation. The March on Washington, as Dr. King points out, “was the first organized Negro operation which was accorded respect and coverage commensurate with its importance”; it was an “extraordinary gathering” that gave “everyone who believed in man’s capacity to better himself…a moment of inspiration and confidence in the future of the human race” (pp. 124-25).
While I might have wished that Why We Can’t Wait could have included Dr. King's immortal “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered as it was at the climax of the March on Washington, the book is more than sufficient as it is.
Dr. King's powerful writing is supplemented by photographs of both the Birmingham campaign and the March on Washington. Why We Can't Wait is an extremely powerful look back at a crucial time in the history of the fight for civil rights in the United States of America. It is also an important reminder that Martin Luther King Jr. should be remembered not as a distant icon, but as a flesh-and-blood man who had the courage to do what needed to be done when the critical moment arrived.
February 16, 2011
I think that every American should read this book. MLK, Jr. was an amazing man who was in love with God and who had a heart for people. He had an amazing understanding of what Jesus Christ would do and, I believe, was a great example of what a Christian should be. As I re-read "Letters From a Birmingham Jail", I was reminded how loving and forgiving of a man he was, even to the people who despised him the most. He had a vision of a world where everyone was treated equally, no matter what the color of their skin, and nonviolence was how he was going to reach that goal. The last words of the book, "Nonviolence, the answer to the Negroes' need, may become the answer to the most desperate need of all humanity.", made me realize just how big his vision was. In the second chapter, he refers to nonviolence as "The Sword that Heals". I think this is a great allusion because their weapon was the nonviolent actions, but instead of being used to wound, it was used to heal years of segregation and the awful things that took place in the South against black people. This is a great history book and should be read in every high school!
October 4, 2021
I grew up in the 60s, so this was a trip to the past. I remember seeing the fire hoses, the dogs biting on children, the marches, the billy clubs, and the faces filled with hate. I remember when 4 little girls were killed in a church bombing. I remember the March on Washington and the I Have a Dream speech. I also remember when much of white America thought Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. should be put in jail and kept there. When my parents said, people shouldn't interfere with what is tradition in the South.
Everything I read in this book is true. If you weren't alive then, and even if you were, I urge you to read this book. We have come far in terms of segregation, but in other ways we have yet to cross the street. Hate is a strong force, and social media has made misinformation even stronger a force.
We need to act what we believe as far as our religion, and we need to resist the forces of evil.
Dr. King was a man of integrity and he was willing to die for what he knew was right. He died not only for saying that the black man should have equal rights in a democracy, or for standing up for the poor, but for his opposition to the Vietnam War. We will never know the full story of his assassination, just as we will never know the full story of the assassination of John Kennedy or RFK. We need to work harder for peace, integrity and freedom in America.
Everything I read in this book is true. If you weren't alive then, and even if you were, I urge you to read this book. We have come far in terms of segregation, but in other ways we have yet to cross the street. Hate is a strong force, and social media has made misinformation even stronger a force.
We need to act what we believe as far as our religion, and we need to resist the forces of evil.
Dr. King was a man of integrity and he was willing to die for what he knew was right. He died not only for saying that the black man should have equal rights in a democracy, or for standing up for the poor, but for his opposition to the Vietnam War. We will never know the full story of his assassination, just as we will never know the full story of the assassination of John Kennedy or RFK. We need to work harder for peace, integrity and freedom in America.
June 19, 2020
البارحة انهيت سيرة ملكوم اكس
و اكثر عبارة كرْرَها هي الفرق بين
زنجي الحقول و زنجي البيوت في إشارة لمارتن
و هذه السيرة الذاتية تؤكد ذلك
كم هو مؤسف حقًا ان يتم تقزيم دور ملكوم و جعله
رمزًا للعنف اللامبرر .!!!
مع أن الذي يطلع على سيرته الذاتية يفهم كمية الغضب.
و سببها.
اذن هو غضب موش عنف ....خاصة بعد عودته من الحج
أصبح اكثر انسانية و يقول انه عنفه منبعه اوضاعه
لكن لا ندعوا الى التسلح.
ان للإعلام سطوته و يبرز ما يتناسب معه !!
19/juin/20 🌸
و اكثر عبارة كرْرَها هي الفرق بين
زنجي الحقول و زنجي البيوت في إشارة لمارتن
و هذه السيرة الذاتية تؤكد ذلك
كم هو مؤسف حقًا ان يتم تقزيم دور ملكوم و جعله
رمزًا للعنف اللامبرر .!!!
مع أن الذي يطلع على سيرته الذاتية يفهم كمية الغضب.
و سببها.
اذن هو غضب موش عنف ....خاصة بعد عودته من الحج
أصبح اكثر انسانية و يقول انه عنفه منبعه اوضاعه
لكن لا ندعوا الى التسلح.
ان للإعلام سطوته و يبرز ما يتناسب معه !!
19/juin/20 🌸
February 19, 2013
"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Martin Luther King Jr. A beautiful book with an everlasting message of love and non-violence; a classic exploration of the events and forces behind the Civil Right movement by someone that was there,one of the greatest human soul to walk on our planet,an enduring testament to the wise and courageous vision of Martin Luther King Jr. A must read for everyone!!!
January 17, 2023
"If he is still saying, “Not enough,” it is because he does not feel that he should be expected to be grateful for the halting and inadequate attempts of his society to catch up with the basic rights he ought to have inherited automatically, centuries ago, by virtue of his membership in the human family and his American birthright.”
If I summarized the entire book then I have every chapter highlighted. This is easily the best book I ever read and so engrossing that it makes you want to re-read lines to get a grasp of what the author is talking about. I really love how this book was so relevant in society, has America ever made progress? How far are we away from slavery? Even today, racism still exists, Blacks are still accomplished Black, not accomplished people.This book angered but also inspired me to keep marching on toward Freedom. It should be required reading for not only those enrolled in school but for every person living on this earth.
Truly this is America, Black Lives Matter is the same as the nonviolent movement that MLK started. Injustice still goes on, Statistics STILL show that the chances of the Black person getting the job is slim in contrast to the White person with the same damn qualifications! Sorry this is really hard to summarize without getting emotionally attached.
Is there any progress at all? We will not wait.. We are tired of waiting. "When you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park.."
Pivotal, remarkable, unparalleled, touching, not enough words in the dictionary to describe this book.
Martin Luther King, you will forever be remembered and not only for Black history month but for eternity!
If I summarized the entire book then I have every chapter highlighted. This is easily the best book I ever read and so engrossing that it makes you want to re-read lines to get a grasp of what the author is talking about. I really love how this book was so relevant in society, has America ever made progress? How far are we away from slavery? Even today, racism still exists, Blacks are still accomplished Black, not accomplished people.This book angered but also inspired me to keep marching on toward Freedom. It should be required reading for not only those enrolled in school but for every person living on this earth.
Truly this is America, Black Lives Matter is the same as the nonviolent movement that MLK started. Injustice still goes on, Statistics STILL show that the chances of the Black person getting the job is slim in contrast to the White person with the same damn qualifications! Sorry this is really hard to summarize without getting emotionally attached.
Is there any progress at all? We will not wait.. We are tired of waiting. "When you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park.."
Pivotal, remarkable, unparalleled, touching, not enough words in the dictionary to describe this book.
Martin Luther King, you will forever be remembered and not only for Black history month but for eternity!
January 30, 2026
Wow. One of a kind
February 16, 2022
Martin Luther King Jr. through his words and actions was a true leader, and this book cements this fact because of all the struggle & the pain, and the suffering that he experienced and all the work that he had done for the civil-rights movement, most especially the 1963 Revolution.
King doesn't just talk about racism as a simple matter here in this book; he unlocks it and exposes the multi-threaded & layers of dread and destruction that the African-American went through for centuries.
King's book is filled with so much promise for the current day during which it was written as it has for the future of the next generations. Peace is an essential part of his personality, and so, in his words, through peace and his non-violent protesting strategy he was able to achieve a historical victory.
You can notice while you read him that he does not shy away from giving criticism or even acknowledging some criticism on him, but it is also through acknowledging the criticism addressed to him from certain groups, he explains his intentions so clearly and methodically, and in the most convincing way, and rightfully. This is evident for example when he talks about why he and the African American citizens decided to defy a court order that made their protests illegal--or why involving the youth generation in the civil-rights movement had been an essential tool towards advancement of the black people.
Martin Luther King is fed up from the white people's bullshit, and despite his anger, he still believes in some of these people's goodness and their imperative roles in bringing peace, unity, and equal rights to the black people . . . but still he doesn't wait for them to make a move in order to achieve equal rights and desegregation for the purpose of educating, developing and involving the African-American citizen in every aspect of his country--he doesn't! He and the African-American people take it upon themselves to get their victory.
And what a big fight did they end-up pulling!
A side-note: This was an essential read for me during February, Black History Month in the USA.
King doesn't just talk about racism as a simple matter here in this book; he unlocks it and exposes the multi-threaded & layers of dread and destruction that the African-American went through for centuries.
King's book is filled with so much promise for the current day during which it was written as it has for the future of the next generations. Peace is an essential part of his personality, and so, in his words, through peace and his non-violent protesting strategy he was able to achieve a historical victory.
You can notice while you read him that he does not shy away from giving criticism or even acknowledging some criticism on him, but it is also through acknowledging the criticism addressed to him from certain groups, he explains his intentions so clearly and methodically, and in the most convincing way, and rightfully. This is evident for example when he talks about why he and the African American citizens decided to defy a court order that made their protests illegal--or why involving the youth generation in the civil-rights movement had been an essential tool towards advancement of the black people.
Martin Luther King is fed up from the white people's bullshit, and despite his anger, he still believes in some of these people's goodness and their imperative roles in bringing peace, unity, and equal rights to the black people . . . but still he doesn't wait for them to make a move in order to achieve equal rights and desegregation for the purpose of educating, developing and involving the African-American citizen in every aspect of his country--he doesn't! He and the African-American people take it upon themselves to get their victory.
And what a big fight did they end-up pulling!
A side-note: This was an essential read for me during February, Black History Month in the USA.
June 7, 2016
For the last few years, I have normally felt that I’ve figured out most of what needs to be figured out concerning people. Everywhere I go, everyone I meet, the same basic petty, High School nonsense resurfaces. People say one thing and do another; people smile in your company, and chatter behind your back. I don’t mean to sound bitter—it’s fun. I simply wish to say that daily life is singularly devoid of heroism and nobility. It’s just imperfect people doing the best they can to get through their days. I’m no different.
But some people, apparently, are different. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of them. As I read this book, I thought to myself, “how is it possible for a person to be this way? How is it that such a hero could actually live in the flesh?” And hero he certainly was.
I have very little to say about this book other than that it is finely written, informative, and truly inspiring. (I’m not sure I’ve ever called a book ‘inspiring’ without irony before.) It’s short; it’s eloquent: read it.
The only food for thought I’d like to offer is the question: could King have accomplished all he did without Christianity? In our secular age, I constantly see well-meaning people crippled by self-doubt—and, more than that, incapable of inspiring others because of this self-doubt. But King had irrepressible inner strength that allowed him to both carry on through hardships and to galvanize others to follow him. Would this have been possible for a non-religious man? (I ask this as a non-believer.) Often we hear of the evils of religion; but King is one of the great testaments of religion’s potential for good.
But some people, apparently, are different. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of them. As I read this book, I thought to myself, “how is it possible for a person to be this way? How is it that such a hero could actually live in the flesh?” And hero he certainly was.
I have very little to say about this book other than that it is finely written, informative, and truly inspiring. (I’m not sure I’ve ever called a book ‘inspiring’ without irony before.) It’s short; it’s eloquent: read it.
The only food for thought I’d like to offer is the question: could King have accomplished all he did without Christianity? In our secular age, I constantly see well-meaning people crippled by self-doubt—and, more than that, incapable of inspiring others because of this self-doubt. But King had irrepressible inner strength that allowed him to both carry on through hardships and to galvanize others to follow him. Would this have been possible for a non-religious man? (I ask this as a non-believer.) Often we hear of the evils of religion; but King is one of the great testaments of religion’s potential for good.
January 21, 2018
I celebrated MLK Day by reading Dr. King’s book, and I am so happy I did. This book is phenomenal!
One of the most poignant reads I have read that gives light to some of the most pivotal moments during the Civil Rights Movement. There is so much passion and weight found in Dr. King’s words that it is almost impossible for you to not be inspired while reading.
One of the most poignant reads I have read that gives light to some of the most pivotal moments during the Civil Rights Movement. There is so much passion and weight found in Dr. King’s words that it is almost impossible for you to not be inspired while reading.
July 31, 2020
I read this book when I was about sixteen. It is a beautiful and important book. Dr. King describes how to use nonviolent protest to challenge injustice and change society for the better. The stories about the protests are inspiring.
But the only part I really related to was a story about an execution.
It seems there was this black teenager who was found guilty of some crime and sentenced to death. As an experiment the prison officials put a microphone in the gas chamber so they could actually hear the prisoner dying. The last thing they heard him say, over and over, was “save me Joe Louis. Save me Joe Louis.”
Dr. King explains that this story was a way of showing how powerless black people felt in America. This was a boy who died alone, unable to call for help. All he could do was daydream about Joe Louis coming to save him. “Joe Louis would care because he was a Negro. Joe Louis could do something because he was the most powerful fighter in the world.”
Now it’s interesting that there are all kinds of black people in the book, but the only one I identified with was a teenage criminal who wasn’t even part of the Civil Rights movement. That black boy in the gas chamber was just like me, completely powerless. He wasn’t one of the people marching and protesting. He was dying and there was nothing he could do about it, except to call on a powerful, older man who was never going to answer him.
That’s exactly how I felt when I was sixteen.
Every night I had to lie in bed and listen to my father coughing in the next room. He was very sick. But he didn’t care. Cigarettes were killing him, but he refused to quit. Every night I listened and I felt powerless.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I could have learned from Martin Luther King. If I could have told someone at school about how I was feeling. I imagine standing up in the middle of class and saying that I couldn’t take the next test, or any test ever again, until my father agreed to quit. I imagine the other kids cheering, or laughing, or just staring at me and wondering why I was such a loser. And then I see myself sitting down again and going back to work.
No matter how sick my father got, I never stopped working hard. And my father never stopped smoking. Every night the hate grew stronger, and the shame. There was no way out.
Save me Joe Louis!
But the only part I really related to was a story about an execution.
It seems there was this black teenager who was found guilty of some crime and sentenced to death. As an experiment the prison officials put a microphone in the gas chamber so they could actually hear the prisoner dying. The last thing they heard him say, over and over, was “save me Joe Louis. Save me Joe Louis.”
Dr. King explains that this story was a way of showing how powerless black people felt in America. This was a boy who died alone, unable to call for help. All he could do was daydream about Joe Louis coming to save him. “Joe Louis would care because he was a Negro. Joe Louis could do something because he was the most powerful fighter in the world.”
Now it’s interesting that there are all kinds of black people in the book, but the only one I identified with was a teenage criminal who wasn’t even part of the Civil Rights movement. That black boy in the gas chamber was just like me, completely powerless. He wasn’t one of the people marching and protesting. He was dying and there was nothing he could do about it, except to call on a powerful, older man who was never going to answer him.
That’s exactly how I felt when I was sixteen.
Every night I had to lie in bed and listen to my father coughing in the next room. He was very sick. But he didn’t care. Cigarettes were killing him, but he refused to quit. Every night I listened and I felt powerless.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I could have learned from Martin Luther King. If I could have told someone at school about how I was feeling. I imagine standing up in the middle of class and saying that I couldn’t take the next test, or any test ever again, until my father agreed to quit. I imagine the other kids cheering, or laughing, or just staring at me and wondering why I was such a loser. And then I see myself sitting down again and going back to work.
No matter how sick my father got, I never stopped working hard. And my father never stopped smoking. Every night the hate grew stronger, and the shame. There was no way out.
Save me Joe Louis!
January 31, 2018
This was a terric book that deserves 5-stars but I only rated it 4-stars because it became too detailed and covered minutia that didn't interest me . It included Dr. King's full ' Letter from a Birmingham jail ' , which is rare and was enlightening .
I was particularly interested in the four pillars on which his dogged , non-violent movement was based : 1 . Collection of facts to identify injustice ;
2. Negotiation ;
3 . SELF-PURIFICATON , and
4. Direct Action .
I was simply astounded at the lengthy agreement that individuals were required to sign before being allowed to be part of the protest !
This battle by Dr. King , his associates and league of protesters explains why his movement was so popular and successful ; and why the Olympic protest by Tommy Smith and John Carlos , and the violent, hate-filled movement of ' Black Lives Matter' are scorned by many , and eventually doomed to failure .
I was particularly interested in the four pillars on which his dogged , non-violent movement was based : 1 . Collection of facts to identify injustice ;
2. Negotiation ;
3 . SELF-PURIFICATON , and
4. Direct Action .
I was simply astounded at the lengthy agreement that individuals were required to sign before being allowed to be part of the protest !
This battle by Dr. King , his associates and league of protesters explains why his movement was so popular and successful ; and why the Olympic protest by Tommy Smith and John Carlos , and the violent, hate-filled movement of ' Black Lives Matter' are scorned by many , and eventually doomed to failure .
December 30, 2022
کتاب «چرا نمیتوانیم منتظر بمانیم؟» که شامل هشت فصل به قلم مارتین لوتر کینگ کبیر است، شاید جزو پنج کتاب برتری باشد که شکل گیری، پیش روی و به ثمر نشستن یک جنبش انقلابی را از درون و بصورت میدانی، و در عین حال از دید بلندپایه ترین رهبر این جنبش، به مخاطب ارائه میدهد. شاید یکی از کاملترین کتابها باشد در شناساندن نیروهای حافظ وضع موجود؛ نیروهای سرکوب که بازوی فشار فاشیسم، نژادپرستی، بنیادگرایی، تمامیت خواهی و اسبتداد هستند. کتابی است که با خواندن هر جملۀ آن یاد رخدادهای آشنا و تلخ در اطراف خود می افتیم. کتابی است در روشن کردن هیبت هیولای وضع موجود.
هیولایی که سیاهان آمریکا در دهه های میانی قرن بیستم با آن روبرو بودند همان هیولایی است که آلمانی ها با آن روبرو بوده اند؛ هیولایی که برای مردمانی که بنیادگرایی دینی، استبداد و تمامیت خواهی را نیز تجربه کرده اند ناآشنا نیست. نژادپرستی، فاشیسم، بنیادگرایی دینی، تمامیت خواهی و استبداد صرفاً سرهای مختلف هیولای چندسری هستند که خون آدمیان را میخورد و سیری نمیپذیرد.
هیولایی که سیاهان آمریکا در دهه های میانی قرن بیستم با آن روبرو بودند همان هیولایی است که آلمانی ها با آن روبرو بوده اند؛ هیولایی که برای مردمانی که بنیادگرایی دینی، استبداد و تمامیت خواهی را نیز تجربه کرده اند ناآشنا نیست. نژادپرستی، فاشیسم، بنیادگرایی دینی، تمامیت خواهی و استبداد صرفاً سرهای مختلف هیولای چندسری هستند که خون آدمیان را میخورد و سیری نمیپذیرد.
December 15, 2023
A classic must-read book about the civil rights struggle during 1963, specifically in Birmingham, Alabama. That year the movement decided to focus its efforts on the most segregated city in America, precisely because it “offered the clearest juxtaposition between wrong and right.” Of course this decision also carried increased risks, but ultimately these non-violent protests turned the tide and forever changed the nation.
Chapter 5 is King’s famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, which is worth 5 stars by itself.
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is often cited to support a kind of colorblind attitude toward the ongoing difficulties of Black people, implying that King believed that if we all pretended that race doesn’t matter anymore and we all just treated each other equally then all these problems would sort themselves out. But here King clearly argues for addressing residual systemic inequalities through targeted reforms and political programs:
“Among the many vital jobs to be done, the nation must not only radically readjust its attitude toward the Negro in the compelling present, but must incorporate in its planning some compensatory consideration for the handicaps he has inherited from the past. It is impossible to create a formula for the future which does not take into account that our society has been doing something special against the Negro for hundreds of years. How then can he be absorbed into the mainstream of American life if we do not do something special for him now, in order to balance the equation and equip him to compete on a just and equal basis?
“Whenever this issue of compensatory or preferential treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask nothing more.
On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man is entered at the starting line in a race three hundred years after another man, the first would have to perform some impossible feat in order to catch up with his fellow runner.
[…After discussing the benefits of the GI Bill following WW2…]
“In this way, the nation was compensating the veteran for his time lost, in school or in his career or in business. Such compensatory treatment was approved by the majority of Americans. Certainly the Negro has been deprived. Few people consider the fact that, in addition to being enslaved for two centuries, the Negro was, during all those years, robbed of the wages of his toil. No amount of gold could provide an adequate compensation for the exploitation and humiliation of the Negro in America down through the centuries. Not all the wealth of this affluent society could meet the bill. Yet a price can be placed on unpaid wages. The ancient common law has always provided a remedy for the appropriation of the labor of one human being by another. This law should be made to apply for American Negroes. The payment should be in the form of a massive program by the government of special, compensatory measures which could be regarded as a settlement in accordance with the accepted practice of common law. Such measures would certainly be less expensive than any computation based on two centuries of unpaid wages and accumulated interest.
“I am proposing, therefore, that, just as we granted a GI Bill of Rights to war veterans, America launch a broad-based and gigantic Bill of Rights for the Disadvantaged, our veterans of the long siege of denial.”
[p 165-170]
Chapter 5 is King’s famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, which is worth 5 stars by itself.
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is often cited to support a kind of colorblind attitude toward the ongoing difficulties of Black people, implying that King believed that if we all pretended that race doesn’t matter anymore and we all just treated each other equally then all these problems would sort themselves out. But here King clearly argues for addressing residual systemic inequalities through targeted reforms and political programs:
“Among the many vital jobs to be done, the nation must not only radically readjust its attitude toward the Negro in the compelling present, but must incorporate in its planning some compensatory consideration for the handicaps he has inherited from the past. It is impossible to create a formula for the future which does not take into account that our society has been doing something special against the Negro for hundreds of years. How then can he be absorbed into the mainstream of American life if we do not do something special for him now, in order to balance the equation and equip him to compete on a just and equal basis?
“Whenever this issue of compensatory or preferential treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask nothing more.
On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man is entered at the starting line in a race three hundred years after another man, the first would have to perform some impossible feat in order to catch up with his fellow runner.
[…After discussing the benefits of the GI Bill following WW2…]
“In this way, the nation was compensating the veteran for his time lost, in school or in his career or in business. Such compensatory treatment was approved by the majority of Americans. Certainly the Negro has been deprived. Few people consider the fact that, in addition to being enslaved for two centuries, the Negro was, during all those years, robbed of the wages of his toil. No amount of gold could provide an adequate compensation for the exploitation and humiliation of the Negro in America down through the centuries. Not all the wealth of this affluent society could meet the bill. Yet a price can be placed on unpaid wages. The ancient common law has always provided a remedy for the appropriation of the labor of one human being by another. This law should be made to apply for American Negroes. The payment should be in the form of a massive program by the government of special, compensatory measures which could be regarded as a settlement in accordance with the accepted practice of common law. Such measures would certainly be less expensive than any computation based on two centuries of unpaid wages and accumulated interest.
“I am proposing, therefore, that, just as we granted a GI Bill of Rights to war veterans, America launch a broad-based and gigantic Bill of Rights for the Disadvantaged, our veterans of the long siege of denial.”
[p 165-170]
February 6, 2019
it’s a moving experience to read history from the viewpoint of the present. to feel the struggle in their choices and actions, to celebrate their victories, to feel the hope for the future.
or maybe it was just the way of words Martin Luther King, Jr. had.
or maybe it’s the heart of christianity in his cause. the love of Christ. the calling of the church, of the people, to fight for what’s just as God describes justice. but to fight, with peace. with sacrifice. with strength of character.
he ends with ideas on how to politically and governmentally move forward for change, and i agree with his thoughts of needing society’s heart to shift, but i’m not sure what i think about the laws and acts and unions to force it. nor do i know if such things have taken place since. i feel ill-informed and ignorant and like i don’t know where to start to find out what’s true now, but i want to try.
or maybe it was just the way of words Martin Luther King, Jr. had.
or maybe it’s the heart of christianity in his cause. the love of Christ. the calling of the church, of the people, to fight for what’s just as God describes justice. but to fight, with peace. with sacrifice. with strength of character.
he ends with ideas on how to politically and governmentally move forward for change, and i agree with his thoughts of needing society’s heart to shift, but i’m not sure what i think about the laws and acts and unions to force it. nor do i know if such things have taken place since. i feel ill-informed and ignorant and like i don’t know where to start to find out what’s true now, but i want to try.
February 11, 2025
Letter from Birmingham Jail is one of the greatest things i’ve had the privilege to lay my eyes on. A perfect, genuine, vulnerable plea for the right to be.
December 21, 2012
"Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another's flesh."
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The concluding words from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.’s were written in his book entitled "Why We Can't Wait." The words illustrate the everlasting struggle of humanity to regain its humanity from the inherited corruption of hate. We, as human-beings, are evitable swayed towards the belief of others. From childhood to young adulthood, we are nurtured in believing what our caretakers teach. But, has the nature of all human-being age, we grow-up to be rational and logical people. What King’s “Dream” is—is for all people to use there very nature to be rational and logical by preventing the illogical and ill-rational cycle of racism and hatred to move from one generation to another. That Dream of King couldn’t have been accomplished by himself, but with the help of forward thinking African-Americans and sympathetic white Americans that Dream has come to be truth.
John Donne was corrected when he made the point that "no man is an island," which ultimately describes the essence of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s journey through the corruption of white supremacy in the South over the suppressed "Negro." Interestingly King's perilous civil rights fights for African-American citizens to have equal rights—which were inalienable upon birth—with white American citizens. However, as King so graciously conveys with the help of the universal theme that John Donne has laid out, Martin Luther King, Jr. was only the figure head and possibly the so called "general" in the battle behind the oppressed and the liberators. Truly then, what King inspired a nation to believe was not to fight suppression with violence but strive for equality with nonviolence.
The nonviolent campaign towards Birmingham, Alabama was tested time and time again with the opportunity to commit violence upon a much physically stronger adversary, but King preached his "Dream" that whites aren't black's enemy but our equals.
The civil rights campaign—which was started years before the emancipation proclamation and still goes on today—is not a civil war to over white suppression or bluntly stated to conqueror 'whitey' but for blacks and whites to have equal footing to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." In modern American society, King's dream has come to fruition and grows stronger with each new generation that doesn't inherit that hatred of racism.
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The concluding words from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.’s were written in his book entitled "Why We Can't Wait." The words illustrate the everlasting struggle of humanity to regain its humanity from the inherited corruption of hate. We, as human-beings, are evitable swayed towards the belief of others. From childhood to young adulthood, we are nurtured in believing what our caretakers teach. But, has the nature of all human-being age, we grow-up to be rational and logical people. What King’s “Dream” is—is for all people to use there very nature to be rational and logical by preventing the illogical and ill-rational cycle of racism and hatred to move from one generation to another. That Dream of King couldn’t have been accomplished by himself, but with the help of forward thinking African-Americans and sympathetic white Americans that Dream has come to be truth.
John Donne was corrected when he made the point that "no man is an island," which ultimately describes the essence of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s journey through the corruption of white supremacy in the South over the suppressed "Negro." Interestingly King's perilous civil rights fights for African-American citizens to have equal rights—which were inalienable upon birth—with white American citizens. However, as King so graciously conveys with the help of the universal theme that John Donne has laid out, Martin Luther King, Jr. was only the figure head and possibly the so called "general" in the battle behind the oppressed and the liberators. Truly then, what King inspired a nation to believe was not to fight suppression with violence but strive for equality with nonviolence.
The nonviolent campaign towards Birmingham, Alabama was tested time and time again with the opportunity to commit violence upon a much physically stronger adversary, but King preached his "Dream" that whites aren't black's enemy but our equals.
The civil rights campaign—which was started years before the emancipation proclamation and still goes on today—is not a civil war to over white suppression or bluntly stated to conqueror 'whitey' but for blacks and whites to have equal footing to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." In modern American society, King's dream has come to fruition and grows stronger with each new generation that doesn't inherit that hatred of racism.
January 22, 2018
Powerful.
I’m glad to read Dr. King’s thoughts in his own words. I’ve settled too long for secondary sources.
This book tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement, especially the events of the year 1963. It centers on the events in Birmingham and includes King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” King explains what their aims were, what philosophy guided them, what tactics of direct action through nonviolence they employed, and what the results were. He does a masterful job of carrying the reader along, reasonably dealing with the objections that naturally arise, and persuading, always persuading.
I struggled as I read it to know what I would have done if I had lived in those days and in those places. My best guess (and maybe I still give myself too much credit) is that I would have been a passive bystander, sympathetic but too hesitant to be of much good. King speaks directly to folks like that, and I found myself looking at my shoes, shuffling around, trying not to be ashamed.
The book ends with King’s evaluation of what still needed to change and what it might cost in the days to come. His talk of assassinations seems almost prophetic given the events of 1968.
I found the book inspiring, challenging, insightful, and helpful. It doesn’t present a plan for racial harmony for the particular problems of 2018, but it shows what can be done if people rise up for freedom and justice for all.
I’m glad to read Dr. King’s thoughts in his own words. I’ve settled too long for secondary sources.
This book tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement, especially the events of the year 1963. It centers on the events in Birmingham and includes King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” King explains what their aims were, what philosophy guided them, what tactics of direct action through nonviolence they employed, and what the results were. He does a masterful job of carrying the reader along, reasonably dealing with the objections that naturally arise, and persuading, always persuading.
I struggled as I read it to know what I would have done if I had lived in those days and in those places. My best guess (and maybe I still give myself too much credit) is that I would have been a passive bystander, sympathetic but too hesitant to be of much good. King speaks directly to folks like that, and I found myself looking at my shoes, shuffling around, trying not to be ashamed.
The book ends with King’s evaluation of what still needed to change and what it might cost in the days to come. His talk of assassinations seems almost prophetic given the events of 1968.
I found the book inspiring, challenging, insightful, and helpful. It doesn’t present a plan for racial harmony for the particular problems of 2018, but it shows what can be done if people rise up for freedom and justice for all.
March 30, 2016
Living history. A look into the mind of Martin Luther King Jr. Turns out the man was every bit as brilliant as his eloquent speeches and history would suggest. Strange feeling about reading this in this day and age; so little has changed. Many of the things he discussed in the abstract still prevail today. The specifics are different, the discrimination more creative (though still primarily racial in nature but also economic, sexual orientation, religious etc) but the attitudes, the leadership (political, cultural, social), society's willingness to tolerate the denial of the rights of others to maintain the status quo. All are present and thriving in today's world.
5 stars. Tied for first runner up for favorite read of the year
5 stars. Tied for first runner up for favorite read of the year
March 25, 2022
“But he who sells you the token instead of the coin always retains the power to revoke its worth, and to command you to get off the bus before you have reached your destination. Tokenism is a promise to pay. Democracy , in its finest sense, is payment”(pg.22).
“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Both a practice and a moral answer to the Negro’s cry for justice, nonviolent direct action proved that it could win victories without losing wars, and so became the triumphant tactic of the Negro Revolution of 1963"(pg.16).
This is probably one of the most important books that I'll read in my lifetime.
February 21, 2022
As a brown person living in the U.S., it is truly moving to see how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go when it comes to discrimination and racial injustice.
April 8, 2017
is it enough to say i kept gasping after turning every single page?
"He marched to heal a nation."
"He marched to heal a nation."
February 4, 2018
5++++ stars
August 4, 2021
Five stars isn’t nearly enough for this (literally) life-changing book. Part riveting history, part sociology, part handbook for living and all astoundingly timely, even sixty years later.
King gives answers to questions I’ve had to which I thought I’d never have answers. He lends energy to a cause that sometimes feels stagnated. He presents a vision, in the truest sense of the word, for what hope can look like in this country. I can actually see it now. If this will happen in my lifetime remains to be seen. But I have confidence it’s not only possible, but with the reigniting of a new civil movement over the last couple of years, it seems more likely than ever. After all, a great many of the very laws and enforcements the 60s era civil rights movement was after have now been implemented.
I can’t believe I waited to read this slim volume as long as I have. It’s one I’ll revisit often, and it’s instantly rocketed up the top of my favorites list. Far from being dry or heavy, it flows with idealism and love of country and focus and practical ideas.
Don’t make the same mistake I did by delaying—while it is meaty with policy and issues, it’s also enthrallingly written and goes down easy because of how skilled a communicator MLK was.
King gives answers to questions I’ve had to which I thought I’d never have answers. He lends energy to a cause that sometimes feels stagnated. He presents a vision, in the truest sense of the word, for what hope can look like in this country. I can actually see it now. If this will happen in my lifetime remains to be seen. But I have confidence it’s not only possible, but with the reigniting of a new civil movement over the last couple of years, it seems more likely than ever. After all, a great many of the very laws and enforcements the 60s era civil rights movement was after have now been implemented.
I can’t believe I waited to read this slim volume as long as I have. It’s one I’ll revisit often, and it’s instantly rocketed up the top of my favorites list. Far from being dry or heavy, it flows with idealism and love of country and focus and practical ideas.
Don’t make the same mistake I did by delaying—while it is meaty with policy and issues, it’s also enthrallingly written and goes down easy because of how skilled a communicator MLK was.
June 5, 2024
king is such a compelling writer. he was a way of explaining political concepts and emotional reasoning that just wins you over. loved this book. personally i don’t have the same trust in american government/presidents that he expressed but i’m happy to have more of an understanding of his feelings around nonviolence as a self liberating tool and revolutionary tool. excited to read more of his books
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