MLK the strategist (THUR)

When reading MLK's letter from Birmingham Jail going over what we talked about in class all I could think about what how strategic the civil rights movement was. With Rosa Parks, you had a well thought out strategy along with precision execution that worked to achieve the movement's goal. You then have the placement of the protesters at lunch counters highly trained to stay on task and committed to the final goal. This letter is another representation of a highly strategic thought out move on the side of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King. In his letter Dr. King is able to take the critics of the religious "white moderates" and turn them on there head by explaining why his way is the best way and in asking him to have more patience it to not only show an ignorance in the realities facing the African American community but also to create a moral ambivalence in places where there should be a moral high ground the church. In explaining to these other religious leaders the complexity of his position in a tactful and respectful way Dr. King is able to also make an appeal for help from a more sympathetic religious leader who up till that point stayed rather neutral on the issue of civil rights. These precise movements and actions bring me back to earlier in the book where king references his group as a non-violent army on page 33 and in reflecting on the weeks topic I have to agree due to the pure strategy of it all. I see this strategy used today with continual success, look at the Me Too movement and how through its use on the media it helped light a fire under powerful people who were evading justice such as Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly.

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