I am reading “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” with a panel of guests this Friday, April 4th from 1-3pm at the Berkeley Central Library.  The event is sponsored by the Berkeley-Albany-Emeryville NAACP Youth Council to mark the National Day of Nonviolence for its youth and college units.  I interviewed Reverand Williams of the NAACP on Comcast Newsmakers a couple of weeks back.

Dr. King - Forty years after your death you continue to show us how we can all be together in justice and peace.  Thank you.

From the historic “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” written by Dr. King in 1963:

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action.