Response to Letter from a Birmingham Jail

After the Birmingham, Alabama newspaper published "The Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen" calling Martin Luther King Jr.'s activities "unwise and untimely," Dr. Martian Luther King wrote a response back from jail arguing each point the clergymen had made in their "Public Statement." In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Dr. King points out that he is not an outsider since the people of Birmingham invited him because "I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and that since they are all within the United States, nobody should be even considered an outsider. Being a fighter of injustice, Dr. King says, he sought to negotiate with the white community of Birmingham, but they refused to comply. Then, he illustrates to them that the tension amongst the groups is many times good because it leads to action and negotiation. As a African American in today's society I can say that if not for this letter, and many other letters, speeches and marches made by Dr. King we wouldn't be where we are today with race relations.

I am a African America women currently serving in the United States Army as a Warrant Officer. My specialty is 915A a Automotive Technician. Fancy way of saying I fix trucks. My main job is soldiering. I train and protect troops, young men and women like myself that vowed to protect and serve. I have served for over 19years, in August of this year and have been privileged to meet people from all walks of life. I have served with soldiers all across this great nation. In times of turmoil and unrest it has been my experience to see color is not a deciding factor when it comes to protecting and serving. When you are in imminent danger you aren't looking what color your brother in arms is you are looking at the best way you both get to make it home.

I have known many soldiers that made the ultimate sacrifice in my years of service and never have I fully accepted and or understood how many of us die for each other in War can't live peacefully and amicably in today's society. As many strides as we have made we still have so far to go. Dr. King stated in his letter" We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights". "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 ". what do you do. It makes you wonder how even though times have definitely changed, how in fact is it, that nothing has changed.

In mind it is simple, judge