Nabila Tabassum Chowdhury’s Reviews > Letter from Birmingham Jail > Status Update

"My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure."

"The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act."

"The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue."

"+so must we see the need for nonviolent gad flies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood."

"Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal,+"

"I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is neces sary for growth."

"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 ten sion 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."

"We decided to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic- withdrawal program would be the by-product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change."

"Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: 'Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?' 'Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?'"

"There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation."