Podcast 101 - Letter From Birmingham Jail

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I like to read the letter from birmingham jail.  But to really appreciate it, you must start off by reading the letter to the editor of the local paper that prompted King's famous letter.



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Summary

Paul Wheaton reads Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, prefaced by the letter to the editor by local clergy that it is in response to. This letter is very applicable in these times, as well as those in which it was written.

Relavent Threads

Egalitarianism vs. Celebrating Diversity
Paul's Political Podcast

Relavent Websites

The Letter From the Clergy to the Editor that prompted Martin Luther King Jr's response.
The Letter From Birmingham Jail


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Was the letter from King published in the paper?

Sue

Susan Monroe wrote:
Was the letter from King published in the paper?

Sue

Dunno.

That was just awesome!  That was the first that I had read - or even know about - that (and I'm older than Rose!  Thanks for posting.

My favorite part:

Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

Wow, that's a good quote, Paul.

Today is also a good day to share about someone most of us have never heard of: Bayard Rustin.

A master strategist and tireless activist, Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. He brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement, and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.

Despite these achievements, Rustin was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era.

This quote is from the website describing the movie about this man none of us learned about in history class, Brother Outsider - The Life of Bayard Rustin.

Thanks Paul for posting this. It's not just a day off.

Wow, how'd I miss that day? I'm not sure profound is descriptive enough.

Paul's reading for 2012: Letter from a Birmingham Jail

It is no longer possible to listen online? I had to download the podcast.

I listened to it online just fine.

Thank you, Paul, for reading it aloud and posting the audio. It was a powerful letter, so potent with passion and justice, what a resonant message today as it was in his time.

Thank you Paul, for your time and effort in this Podcast... Moving... Inspiring...

Letter from a Birmingham Jail http://www.richsoil.com/permaculture/631-podcast-101-letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/ - Must hear audio... Martin Luther King Jr., a man of integrity, courage, and convection ... a true leader of all races ...

http://hines.blogspot.com/2012/01/letter-from-birmingham-jail-permiescom.html

Regards to all,
Monte Hines

I found that really moving, Paul....thanks. For me, it really resonated with injustices being protested today.

wow.. that was wonderful! what a great article to post at this time when we are at the beginnings of a rebellion.

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/16/special_dr_martin_luther_king_jr

Amy Goodman was airing parts of MLK's "Beyond Viet Nam" speech and his “I Have Been to the Mountain Top" speech on MLK day.

It is worth a listen. And still very inspiring and relevant, IMO.

Paul and Kelda continue reviewing Sepp Holzer's Permaculture (the book), chapter 1 part 5 in this podcast: podcast

Paul talks about the modern applicability of letter from a Birmingham Jail.

The mission is to persuade millions.



Try 100 things, 2 of them will work out, but you never know in advance which 2.

Try 1000 things .... try 10,000 things .... even try writing a letter to the editor while you are in jail.



Keep trying.



I think the world will adopt permaculture once they know about it. I intend to keep trying to tell them about it in ways that seem effective to me.

Thanks, Paul, for pointing us to your reading of Letter from Birmingham Jail on this 2013 Martin Luther King day.

My husband was a kid in B'ham, went to work with his mom at the library when all hell broke loose at the demonstation in the adjoining park and the nightmare he still recalls today. That was the event that landed Dr. King in jail and dozens and dozen of people severely beaten and attacked by dogs that the police unleashed. I was in Memphis when Dr. King was murdered and my dad worked downtown. It was 3 days before he could get home. I remember when busing/integration began and the bricks that were thrown at all of the bus windows regardless of us children inside and the national guard lining the streets leading up to the school with full armed gear.
Yup, there are things important enough to keep your head down and never stop swinging until people that pound the table about how things have always been, stop long enough to listen to the possibilites of change!
M

Thanks ...... Paul lets fix this culture with permaculture Great last three podcasts nature has her own rules and it is nice to see people trying to get a grip of the unity of those rules ,Food is a huge path towards mankind's realization we are all one

Peace

Again Paul, THANK YOU for posting this....
I must confess to not having learned enough history....
I remember watching the riots on TV as a child and how terrified I was.....
MLK showed the right way to do things.
There are things worth taking about and not just keeping one's head in the sand - or soil!

Video of interesting discussion about Dr. King's Letter - Sociologist Jonathan Rieder Interviewed by Tavis Smiley

--> http://tinyurl.com/chytmgm

The noted scholar explains the motivation for his latest text on Dr. King's "Letter From Birmingham Jail" and the struggle that changed a nation.

Jonathan Rieder is the author of the just published Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation. He is a sociologist at Barnard College, Columbia University.

With Regards and Respect To All

http://tinyurl.com/c3op627

The letter written by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from a Birmingham jail was dated fifty years ago today. Watch Melissa's Footnote from Sunday's "MHP" to learn why it is a letter that changed the world: http://j.mp/17zRyv4

Read the letter itself here, courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania's African Studies Center: http://j.mp/YrxxjB

It is enjoyable to hear MLK put the smack down so eloquently.

Thanks for posting this!

I apologize for copying the text of your post without crediting you in the body of the post, Paul, but the fact that this is filed under the "Meaningless Drivel" category here on Permies was enough for me to feel a need to put the credit to you in a comment below the main post.

Posting a link on FB to this thread brings up a headline with "Meaningless Drivel" in big ol type... and you could see how that could get misconstrued or twisted by people.....

Thanks Paul, this is perfect and I have shared it on my Facebook profile as, I have been posting quotes and speeches by MLK on my profile page for the past few days.

It is essential to read more than just the "I had A dream Speech" so that we who were very young at the time or not even born can realize the depth of this mans vision and education to bring about justice in a non-violent fashion.

just thought i'd share a bit of an article i just read with a quote or two from MLK:

Here was a man—especially in the last years of his life—who clearly was thinking not simply about new programs and policies, but about what can only be called changing the system. “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar,” King said. “It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

On another occasion, King said, “One day we must ask the question, ‘Why are there 40 million poor people in America?’ And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy and to ask questions about the whole society.” Elsewhere he added, “Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”

here's the whole article if you're interested. if this guy, gar alperovitz, isn't on your radar, might be worth looking.
http://sojo.net/magazine/2014/01/beyond-dreamer

I have made it my own annual tradition to listen to this podcast (now available for purchase at scubbly, along with 39 other wonderful podcasts for the freaky cheap price of $4.50! Support the empire! http://www.scubbly.com/item/75986/). While I listen, I like to think about the various forms of injustice we face today, and how we can stand up against it through whatever means are available to us as well, including direct action and civil disobedience. Then I watch the film Gandhi. and read Thoreau's work On The Duty of Civil Disobedience. Thanks for recording this.

Some of the things on YouTube concerning King, are absolutely shameful. More often than not, they are posted by young African Americans who have been influenced by Louis Ferrakhan, the Panthers, ill informed rap songs or other stuff on YouTube. A vicious circle results.

Dale Hodgins wrote:Some of the things on YouTube concerning King, are absolutely shameful. More often than not, they are posted by young African Americans who have been influenced by Louis Ferrakhan, the Panthers, ill informed rap songs or other stuff on YouTube. A vicious circle results.

Yup. He was a far different man than most people learn about today.

Less well known about Dr. King was his clarion call to protect the environment – and society – from the ills of rampant materialism. He called for a “dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists” – a phrase or concept that would appear again and again in his future speeches:

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”

Transformed Non-conformists. Sounds Permie to me.

Bump.

Excellent reading, Paul.

Whatever folks do or don't know about the history, I'd like to suggest it's worth seeing Selma.

I grew up in Southern California and mom was pretty strict about what her girls saw and did with the outside world. I would have been drawn and quartered if I even thought about being a hippy! So I was brought up without a clue but could sew and cook! Even in those times I would see things on TV but they weren't in my neighborhood and what was all the fuss about, I didn't have any problem with people of other colors, just people who did stinky things whatever their color was. Then I grew up, started seeing things a bit differantly but with the same heart I've always had. I guess you could say I got my eyes opened, saw the injustices...
Now I live in South Carolina, in a small town, there is still a lot of that good ol boy stuff going on here, my girlfriend calls them "Ring Thumpers" (a sort of "club" of people who aren't about to give up their power.) I have many friends of other colors and they add quite a diversity to my life for which I am very grateful.
My son and I keep the vision in our minds that we can have a wonderful productive life here on our acreage using our new found knowledge of Permaculture and sharing it with our friends. My hope is that when the shtf all of my friends have at least some kind of the concept started on their property. So we share but I also do see that there are those who just plain will not open their eyes to permaculture as they have always made a small garden with tomatoes to brag about and cuss about the deer getting their corn. So I say a little prayer for them and get on with it...

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:

Today is also a good day to share about someone most of us have never heard of: Bayard Rustin.

FREE Today only (it seems) you can watch Brother Outsider courtesy of free streaming from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/povdocs/2015/01/documentary-streaming-free-for-mlk-day-brother-outsider-the-life-of-bayard-rustin/#.VL1nrWTF_kk

I'm going to watch it!

Steph Kent wrote:FREE Today only (it seems) you can watch Brother Outsider courtesy of free streaming from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/povdocs/2015/01/documentary-streaming-free-for-mlk-day-brother-outsider-the-life-of-bayard-rustin/#.VL1nrWTF_kk

I'm going to watch it!

Sweet! Thanks Steph!