Martin Luther King jr-;

This year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on January 15, coincides with
the late civil rights leader’s birthday. Had he lived, King would be
turning 95 years old.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and civil rights
activist who had a seismic impact on race relations in the United
States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among his many efforts, King
headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Through his nonviolent activism and inspirational speeches, he
played a pivotal role in ending legal segregation of Black Americans,
as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965.

From the Birmingham jail, where he was imprisoned as a participant in nonviolent

demonstrations against segregation, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in
longhand the letter which follows. It was his response to a public statement of
concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. Dr. King,
who was born in 1929, did his undergraduate work at Morehouse College; attended
the integrated Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, one of six
black pupils among a hundred students, and the president of his class; and won a
fellowship to Boston University for his Ph.D.

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across

your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and
untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and
ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk,
my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such
correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time
for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine
good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to
try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and
reasonable terms.

In 1967, as the United States was at war in Vietnam, American

Civil Rights activists were fighting their own battles at home. Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the war in his April 4, 1967,
speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” Less than two
weeks later, he shifted his focus to the fight for racial justice with a
speech titled “The Other America,” delivered at Stanford
University.

He goes on to describe the two Americas that exist alongside one

another. The first is “the habitat of millions of people who have
food and material necessities for their bodies; and culture and
education for their minds; and freedom and human dignity for
their spirits[...]And in this America millions of young people grow
up in the sunlight of opportunity.”

The second America, he explains, is the place where the nation’s

citizens live in poverty. He mentions the several races occupying
this America, including poor white people, before characterizing
the Black American experience: “The American Negro finds himself
living in a triple ghetto. A ghetto of race, a ghetto of poverty, a
ghetto of human misery.”

Many of the MLK quotes that are part of school curriculums today
deal with hope and racial unity, but “The Other America” notably
justifies the anger felt in Black America at this time. The Civil
Rights leader is famous for leading nonviolent protests, and while
he does use this speech to condemn violence, he also sympathizes
with rioters and explains their motives:

So these conditions, existence of widespread poverty, slums, and of

tragic conniptions in schools and other areas of life, all of these
things have brought about a great deal of despair, and a great
deal of desperation. A great deal of disappointment and even
bitterness in the Negro communities. And today all of our cities
confront huge problems. All of our cities are potentially powder
kegs as a result of the continued existence of these conditions.
Many in moments of anger, many in moments of deep bitterness
engage in riots.

Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say,
that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I’m still
convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to
oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel
that violence will only create more social problems than they will
solve. That in a real sense it is impracticable for the Negro to even
think of mounting a violent revolution in the United States. So I
will continue to condemn riots, and continue to say to my brothers
and sisters that this is not the way. And continue to affirm that
there is another way.

But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in

condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they
must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I
think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air.
Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be
condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final
analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that
America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of
the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed
to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met.
And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are
more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about
justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s
summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And
as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of
having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.
Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot
prevention.

He goes on to describe the two Americas that exist alongside one

another. The first is “the habitat of millions of people who have
food and material necessities for their bodies; and culture and
education for their minds; and freedom and human dignity for
their spirits[...]And in this America millions of young people grow
up in the sunlight of opportunity.”

The second America, he explains, is the place where the nation’s

citizens live in poverty. He mentions the several races occupying
this America, including poor white people, before characterizing
the Black American experience: “The American Negro finds himself
living in a triple ghetto. A ghetto of race, a ghetto of poverty, a
ghetto of human misery.”

Many of the MLK quotes that are part of school curriculums today
deal with hope and racial unity, but “The Other America” notably
justifies the anger felt in Black America at this time. The Civil
Rights leader is famous for leading nonviolent protests, and while
he does use this speech to condemn violence, he also sympathizes
with rioters and explains their motives:

So these conditions, existence of widespread poverty, slums, and of

tragic conniptions in schools and other areas of life, all of these
things have brought about a great deal of despair, and a great
deal of desperation. A great deal of disappointment and even
bitterness in the Negro communities. And today all of our cities
confront huge problems. All of our cities are potentially powder
kegs as a result of the continued existence of these conditions.
Many in moments of anger, many in moments of deep bitterness
engage in riots.
Give Us the Ballot" is a 1957 speech by Martin Luther King Jr. advocating voting rights for
African Americans in the United States. King delivered the speech at the Prayer Pilgrimage for
[1]
Freedom gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on May 17.
In the key section of the speech King listed some of the changes that would result by African
Americans regaining voting rights:

"Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our
basic rights ...
"Give us the ballot and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an
anti-lynching law ...
"Give us the ballot and we will fill our legislative halls with men of good will ...
"Give us the ballot and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly
and love mercy ...
 "Give us the ballot and we will quietly and nonviolently, without rancor or bitterness,
[2]
implement the Supreme Court's decision of May 17, 1954."

It is one of King's major speeches.