ગુજરાતીમાં કહીએ તો ‘કોઈએ બંધ બેસતી પાઘડી પહેરી લેવી નહીં.’ આ બિલકુલ કાલ્પનિક વાત છે. તેને કોઈ જીવંત વ્યક્તિ, કોઈ (શહેર, મકાન, ઇ.ની) જગ્યા અને તેની આસપાસની સ્થિતિ, આસપાસના સંજોગો, વ્યવસાય, ઇ.ની પરિસ્થિતિ કે હાલત, સ્થિતિ, નોકરી, ચાકરી, નોકર પોતાનો ધંધો અથવા કામકાજ, કામ, મળવાનું પ્રયોજન, પોતાની ફરજ, કાર્યક્ષેત્ર, મહત્ત્વનું કામ, ધ્યાન આપવાની કે કરવાની વસ્તુ(ઓ), રંગમંચ પરની કામગીરી કે અભિનય, ખરીદ-વેચાણ, વેપાર, વેપારી પેઢી. એક પ્રદેશ કે સ્થાનમાં રહેનારા અથવા એક ધર્મ કે જાતિ કે વ્યવસાય કે સમાન હિત સંબંધોવાળા લોકો કે સમાજ, જાહેર જનતા, કુટુંબની જેમ રહેતા લોકોનું જૂથ, સહિયારી માલિકી, સમૂહ. વ્યક્તિગત, વ્યક્તિ, એક, એકલું, અટૂલું, અનોખું, અમુક, એક વ્યક્તિ કે વસ્તુનું કે એક વસ્તુ માટેનું, વિશિષ્ટ વ્યક્તિનું લાક્ષણિક, વ્યક્તિનું,  વ્યક્તિગત, કોઈ જૂથ કે વર્ગની એક વ્યક્તિ, માનવ વ્યક્તિ, માણસ, જણ સાથે સંબંધ નથી.

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તમે અવારનવાર હિન્દી સિનેમા કે ટીવી જોતાં જ હશો. ખાસ કરીને પશ્ચિમમાં વસેલાં ભારતીયો. અને તેમાં પણ નિવૃત્ત થયેલાં વડીલો અને ગૃહિણીઓ, જેઓ ઘરકામ કરીને આખા દિવસનો થાક ઉતારવા ટીવી સામે ગોઠવાઈ જાય છે. આપણે નાના પરદાની વાત કરીએ કારણ કે તે સહેલાઈથી ઉપલબ્ધ છે અને ગમે ત્યારે જોઈ પણ શકાય. તેમાં સિરિયલોની ખોટ નથી. તમે એવી અનેક સિરિયલો જોઈ જ હશે જે વાસ્તવિકતાથી બહુ છેટી હોય છે, પણ તે કૌટુંબિક/સામાજિક વાર્તા છે એટલે ચાલે છે.

આ સિરિયલોના એંજિનમાં કયું ઈંધણ વપરાય છે કે તે વર્ષો સુધી ચાલે છે?

એક કાલ્પનિક દ્રશ્ય : (મિટિંગ)

પ્રોડ્યુસર : આપણે સ્પર્ધકોને ટક્કર આપવા માટે એક સાવ નવી સિરિયલ તૈયાર કરવી પડશે, કારણ કે 964 હપ્તા પછી ચાલુ સિરિયલ હવે ઘરડી થઈ ગઈ હોય તેમ મને પણ લાગે છે. કોઈ વિચારો છે?

એક વક્તા : સાહેબ, આપણે પહેલાંના ખૂબ જ જાણીતા હાસ્ય લેખક શ્રી દિવેલિયાની વાર્તાઓ પર સિરિયલ બનાવીએ તો?

પ્રોડયુસર : દિવેલિયા? મેં તેની વાર્તાઓ વાંચી નથી. સમજાવો.

તે જ વક્તા : પહેલાં મુંબઈ રહેતા હતા, પણ હાલમાં તો તેઓ બહુ જ ઘરડા થઈ ગયા છે અને પોતાને ગામ રહે છે. તેમની હાસ્ય કથાઓ ઘણી જ પ્રસિદ્ધ થઈ હતી, અને આજ સુધી,એમના હાસ્ય ટૂચકાઓ વારંવાર સંભળાય છે. બોસ, તમે પણ તેમના ટૂચકાઓ અમને ઘણી વાર સંભળાવ્યા છે. 

પ્રોડયુસર : તો કાલે જ મને વહેલી સવારે મળો. આપણે દિવેલિયાને ગામ જઈએ. અને હા, પેલા ભેજાને પણ ફોન કરી દો કે તે પણ આપણી સાથે આવે. (ભેજા = પટકથા લખનાર લેખક જેનું આખું નામ બી.જે. બાજપરા.)

કાફલો દિવેલિયાના ગામ પહોંચ્યો અને ઘર સામે મોટર ઊભી એટલે શ્રીમતી દિવેલિયા બહાર  આવ્યાં, સ્વાગત કર્યું અને મહેમાનો ને અંદર લઈ ગયાં. શ્રીમતી દિવેલિયાને એટલી જ ખબર હતી કે કોઈ પ્રકાશક પોતાના પતિની છપાયેલ ચોપડીઓ લેવા આવ્યા હતા. તેઓ ખુશ હતા કારણ કે પૈસાની તાતી જરૂર હતી. કેટલા પૈસા મળશે તેનું અનુમાન ન હતું પણે તેઓએ મનોમન આવનાર પૈસા ખર્ચી નાખ્યા હતા – નળિયા ચૂતાં હતા, દીવાલો રંગવાની હતી અને ફળિયામાં ગાર કરાવવાની હતી. દીકરી પરણી ને સાસરે ગઈ, ત્યારે તેને ખબર હતી કે પોતે પોતાના વર સાથે મુંબઈ રહેવા નહિ આવી શકે, કારણ કે પિતાનું ઘર સાવ નાનું હતું. તેઓ ત્રણે સાંકડમોકડ સાથે રહેતાં હતા. કોઈ એક બીજું આવે ચડે તો ઉઠવા બેસવાની પણ તકલીફ પડતી. ગામના ઘરમાં થોડી મોકળાશ હતી. દીકરીએ પત્ર પાઠવ્યો હતો કે તે પોતાના પુત્ર અને પતિ સાથે દિવાળી માણવા ગામના ઘરે આવશે.       

પ્રોડયુસરે ભેજાને સોદો કરવાનું કહ્યું હતું. ભેજાએ તેના શેઠને કાનમાં કશુંક કહ્યું એટલે શેઠે બેગ ખોલીને પૈસાનું મોટું બંડલ ભેજાના હાથમાં આપ્યું. તે લઇને ભેજા દિવેલિયાની સાવ નજીક બેઠા અને ગુસપુસ કરવા લાગ્યા. સોદો થઈ ગયો.

સૌ કારમાં ગોઠવાઈ ગયા અને મુંબઈ આવ્યા. ભેજાએ કારમાં શેઠને સમજાવ્યું હતું કે તેણે મૂળ લેખક પાસેથી તેની ચોપડીઓના ‘સર્વ હક’ ખરીદી લીધા હતા.

પ્રોડયુસર : બસ, તમે આજથી જ કામ શરૂ કરી દો, અને મને કાલે સાંજે રૂપરેખા આપો. તે સાંભળ્યા પછી હું આખા સ્ટાફની મિટિંગ બોલાવીશ.

ભેજાએ આખી રાત બેસીને રૂપરેખા ઘડી નાખી. સાંજે પ્રોડુયુસરને મળ્યા.

ભેજા : શેઠ કેટલા હપ્તા કરવા છે?

પ્રોડયુસર : ઓછામાં ઓછા બે વર્ષ ચાલે તેટલાં.

ભેજા : થઈ જશે. મારી પાસે ઘણો મસાલો છે.

પ્રોડયુસર : અને આપણે તેમાં કોઈ નવા ચહેરાઓ લેવા નથી. જૂની સિરિયલના જ ચાલશે અને જો તમારે કોઈ નવા ચહેરાઓ દાખલ કરવા હોય તો મારી પાસે ઘણી બધી અરજીઓ છે. સિરિયલ લોકપ્રિય થાય એટલે સસ્તામાં પટાવી લઈશું. આ બાબત તમે જરા સંશોધન કરીને લખજો. 

તો ચાલો સાંભળો એમના મુખેથી જ :- 

શેઠ મને ‘ભેજા’ કહે છે, કારણ કે જ્યારે જ્યારે એમની સિરિયલ ડગુમગુ થવા લાગે ત્યારે ત્યારે તે મને તેમાં ‘જાન’ પૂરવાનું કહે છે. આમ તો મારું આખું નામ બી.જે. બાજપરા છે.

અગાઉ મેં ઘણી વાર્તાઓ લખી છે, અમુક તો સામયિકોમાં છપાણી પણ ખરી. પૈસાની કાયમ તંગી. તેવામાં એક દિવસ ચાના સ્ટોલ પર ચા પીતા પીતા એક સજ્જન મળી ગયા. ચા પીધા પછી તેઓએ ગજવામાં હાથ નાખ્યો તો પાકીટ ન હતું. મેં પૈસા ચૂકવી દીધા અને અમે ચાલતા ચાલતા ઘેર જવાનો રસ્તો પકડ્યો. વાત કરતાં કરતાં તેઓએ મને તેઓના કામે મળવાનું આમંત્રણ આપ્યું જે મેં સહર્ષ સ્વીકાર્યું. ત્યાં મારી ઓળખાણ એક ટીવી સિરિયલ બનાવનાર સાથે થઈ જેણે મને સીધું આહ્વાન આપ્યું કે જો હું તેમની માંદલી સિરિયલ જરાક વધારે ચલાવું અને દર્શકોને ફરીથી તે સિરિયલ જોતાં કરું તો તેઓ મને કાયમી કામ આપશે.

મારી પહેલી પટકથા વાંચીને તેઓ બોલ્યા, ‘આ તો ચીલાચાલુ વાર્તા છે. નહીં ચાલે.’  કાંઈક નવું કરી બતાડો. હું ઘેર આવ્યો અને વહી ગયેલી આખી વાર્તા ફરીથી વાંચી અને મને વિચાર આવ્યો કે મારા સિવાય આ વાર્તા ક્યાં પૂરી કરવી, તેનો ખ્યાલ કોઈને જ ન હતો. એટલે હું ભગવાન બન્યો. વાર્તાની નાયિકા જે બહુ જ લોકપ્રિય હતી તેનો પતિ આગળ અભ્યાસ માટે અમેરિકા ગયો. કોણ જાણે કેમ પણ તેનો અભ્યાસ પૂરો જ થતો ન હતો. એકને બદલે પાંચ વરસ વીતી ગયાં. તેની સાસુ રોજ તેને છપ્પરપગી, અપશુનિયાળ વગેરે વિશેષણોથી નવાજતી અને કનડતી. મેં ત્યાંથી વાર્તા શરૂ કરી.

સાસુને લકવા થયો, ખાટલાવશ થઈ અને સ્વર્ગે સીધાવી. વહુ સસરાનું ધ્યાન રાખવા લાગી, સસરાનું હાર્ટ ટ્રાંસપ્લાંટ કરાવ્યું અને સસરા જુવાન જેવા થઈ ગયા. અહીં ફિલ્મી સામયિકોમાં અને બ્લોગ પર વાત ચર્ચાનાં ચોતરે ચડી. સૌને એમ લાગતું હતી કે સસરા વહુનું ચક્કર ચાલશે. સિરિયલ પૂરી કરવાના એપિસોડ હવે લગભગ ૧૦૦૦ થવા આવ્યા હતા, એટલે હું ભણતા દીકરાને અચાનક ઘેર લાવ્યો. (મસાલો – અમેરિકન ગોરી, જેની સાથે તે ભણતા ભણતા પરણી ગયો હતો, એને દગો આપ્યો અને લૂંટી લીધો હતો.) અમેરિકાથી તે માંડમાંડ ઘેર પહોંચ્યો અને પોતાની વહુ સાથે ઈમોશન્લ મિલન થયું. વહુએ તેને અપનાવી લીધો. વાત પૂરી. 

‘મસાલો એટલે?’

જેમ ભોજનને સ્વાદિષ્ટ બનાવવા માટે તેમાં જુદા જુદા મસાલાઓનો ઉપયોગ કરવામાં આવે છે, તેમ,જ સિરિયલને રુચિકર બનાવવા માટે હું જુદા જુદા મસાલાઓનો ઉપયોગ કરું છું. આ માટે હું જૂના છાપાઓમાંથી રસ પડે તેવા સમાચારોની કાપલીઓ સાચવી રાખું છું અને જરૂર પડ્યે તેનો ઉપયોગ કરું છું.

એક દિવસ શેઠ ધૂંઆપૂંઆ થતાં ઓફિસમાં આવ્યા અને મોબાઈલનો જોરથી ઘા કર્યો અને બબડવા લાગ્યાં, ‘મારો ફોન કાપી નાખ્યો. એની એ હિમ્મત.’

‘ભેજા, તમે અબીહાલ કાનનને (સિરિયલની મુખ્ય નાયિકા) કાઢી નાખો. તેની મા એક વખત મારી પાસે પગ પકડીને બહુ કરગરી, એટલે મેં કન્નીને નાયિકા બનાવી. હવે જરા જાણીતી થઈ એટલે આપણા પ્રતિસ્પર્ધીએ તેને વધારે પૈસાની લાલચ આપીને તેની સિરિયલમાં મુખ્ય રોલ આપ્યો છે, એટલે તેની માનો પારો ઊંચો ગયો છે. ઝટ કરો અને મને જલદી કથા આપો.’

નવી મુખ્ય નાયિકા નવા ચહેરા સાથે સિરિયલમાં ફીટ થઈ જાય, તે માટે મેં મસાલાનો ડબ્બો ખોલ્યો. મેં કાનનને વિમાનમાં તેની માનો જન્મદિવસ ઉજવવા મોકલી, અને વિમાનનો અકસ્માત કર્યો. કાનનને પ્લાસ્ટિક સર્જરી કરાવી અને નવો ચહેરો આપ્યો અને વાર્તા આગળ ચાલી. શેઠ ખુશ થયા.

સાહેબ, આ ઉપરથી તમને લાગશે કે સિરિયલની વાર્તા લખવી સહેલી છે. મન ફાવે ત્યારે ભગવાન બનીને વાર્તાને કોઈ પણ વળાંક આપી શકાય. પણ, ના તેવું નથી. અમારે તો અનેક પાસાઓનું ધ્યાન રાખવું પડે. વારંવાર લોકેશન ન બદલવું પડે તેનું ધ્યાન રાખવાનું જ, અને ન છૂટકે બદલવું પડે તો જે સાવ સસ્તું હોય તેવું જ શોધવું પડે. તેમાં પણ જો કોઈ જાહેર જગ્યાએ શૂટિંગ કરવાનું હોય, તો સ્થાનિક સત્તાવાળાઓની પરવાનગી મેળવતાં મેળવતાં નાકે દમ આવી જાય, અને વધારામાં, તેઓની કોઈ ઝૂંબેશને (ધૂમ્રપાન નિવારણ, જ્યાં ત્યાં થૂંકવું નહીં, વગેરેને) પણ પબ્લિસિટી આપવી પડે. મહામહેનતે અને મોટા ખર્ચે સ્ટુડિયોમાં જે સેટ તૈયાર કર્યો હોય, તેમાં જ બધુ પતાવવાનું હોય. કોઈ કોઈ વાર કોઈ ધંધાને કે તેઓના પ્રોડક્ટને દેખાડવાના હોય, તો તેને અનુરૂપ વાત કરવી પડે (સિરિયલમાં ચીંથરેહાલ; ફાટેલતૂટેલ કપડાં પહેરેલ હોય તેવાં કેટલાં પાત્રો જોયાં? પાત્રોને નવા છેલ્લી ડિઝાઈનના કપડાં જ જોઈએ, નવા મોબાઈલ ફોન જ જોઈએ, રૂપકડાં બાળકો સ્વચ્છ કપડામાં જ હોય, પછી ભલેને ધૂળમાં રમતાં હોય.). ઘણી વાર તો દર્શકોની માગણી જેવી કે તમારી સિરિયલમાં અમુક જાતિના કે ધર્મના જ લોકો કેમ ? તમે અમારા ગામનું નામ ખરાબ કર્યું છે, તમે દેખાડ્યા તેવા દુષ્ટ માણસો ત્યાં રહેતા જ નથી, તેમ હું આજીવન ગામવાસી તરીકે કહી શકું છ,ું વગરે પણ સંતોષવી પડે છે. વળી, દરેક એપિસોડ સસ્પેન્સમાં જ પૂરો થવો જોઈએ, જેથી દર્શકો આગલા એપિસોડનો ઈંતજાર કરે. આ માટે ચીલાચાલુ મસાલાઓ છે :- જેવું બારણું ખૂલ્યું તો સામે ….? લાઈટ બંધ થઈ તો …? જે વ્યક્તિની લાંબા સમયથી શોધ હતી તે જ સામેના રસ્તા પર દેખાય અને …..? ભૂત,પ્રેત, ……

મોટે ભાગે સિરિયલ કેટલી લાંબી છે તેના પર વાર્તા ઘડાય છે. કોણ ક્યારે રજા પર જશે, કોણ બીમાર છે, કોનું વજન, દાઢી/મૂછ વધારવાની કે ઘટાડવાની છે, કોઈ નટનટી પોતાના ખર્ચે પરદેશ ફરવા જાય તો તેને વીડિિયો કેમેરા આપીને તેની પરદેશની યાત્રા કચકડે મઢવાની હોય છે, અને જરૂર પડ્યે વાર્તામાં સમાવવાની હોય છે. પરદેશમાં શૂટિંગ કરવું કોઈ પણ પ્રોડ્યુસરને ન પોસાય, કારણ કે તેનું વળતર ઘેર બનાવેલી સિરિયલ કરતાં ઓછું મળે તો પાયમાલ થઈ જવાય. 

મોટા ભાગની સિરિયલોમાં જ્યારે અતિરેક થવા માંડે, ત્યારે તે નિષ્ફળ જાય છે. જેમ કે અતિશય કાવાદાવા, પ્રેમ, ગીતો, હાસ્ય, ખૂન ખરાબા, વેવલાપણું, એક વાતમાં અનેક ગૌણ વાતો વણી લઈને સિરિયલને લંબાવે જ રાખવી વગેરે. આમાં કોણ જવાબદાર છે તે કહેવું મુશ્કેલ છે. ઘણી વખત પાત્ર ભજવનારાઓ એક જ જાતનો અભિનય કરતાં કરતાં થાકી જાય છે અને બીજે કામ શોધતાં હોય છે.   

પ્રેમ, ઈશ્ક, મહોબ્બત, પ્યાર, લવ, ભ્રષ્ટાચાર, રાજકારણ, લાંચરૂશ્વત, દેશદાઝ, વફાદારી વગેરે મસાલાઓ એક સમયે ફિલમોનો ઈજારો હતો. તે જોઈ જોઈને પ્રેક્ષકો કંટાળી ગયાં અને નાના પરદા તરફ વળ્યા. કોઈ વાર એવું પણ બને કે એક પાત્રને એક બિબામાં ઢાળી દીધા બાદ, પ્રેક્ષકો તેની પાસેથી બીજા વર્તનની આશા રાખતા જ નથી. જો કોઈ બબાલ ઊભો થાય તો એક જ જવાબ, ‘પ્રેક્ષકોને જે ગમે તે જ પીરસવું પડે.’ અમુક વખતે વિજ્ઞાન સાથે પણ લેખકને છૂટ લેવી પડે છે. વિજ્ઞાન વર્સિસ શ્રદ્ધા – કોઈ મરણ પથારીએ હોય અને હોસ્પિટલના જ મંદિરમાં ભગવાનની મૂર્તિને ખખડાવીને દર્દીનો જીવ પાછો મેળવવો, નવી રસી કે દવા સમયસર મળવી, બાબાના આશીર્વાદ ફળવા, અણીના સમયે અંગનું ટ્રાન્સપ્લાન્ટ કરવું, વગેરે. સિરિયલનો/ના ફાઈનન્સિયરની પોતાની વગ હોય છે અને તે કહે તો તેના પુત્રને, પુત્રીને કે કોઈ સગાંને થોડાક એપિસોડમાં ફીટ કટવા પડે. આ ઉપરાંત પ્રેસ સાથે મીઠા સંબંધો જાળવવા માટે અનેક વ્યક્તિઓને હાથમાં રાખવી પડે છે. પાર્ટીઓ કરવી પડે અને જેને કક્કાનો ‘ક’ પણ ન આવડતો હોય, (પણ જેને લક્ષ્મી વરી હોય) તેનું સાહિત્ય પણ વાર્તામાં વણવું પડે.  

એક દિવસ વહેલી સવારે શેઠનો ફોન આવ્યો, ‘જલદી પહોંચી જાવ, મારા ખર્ચે ટૅક્સી લઈ લેજો.’ કહીને મને સરનામું આપ્યું. દરિયા કિનારે એક ભવન હતું. હું અંદર ગયો તો શેઠે તરત શરૂઆત કરી, ‘આ બંગલો જયંતભાઈએ (બીજા પ્રોડ્યુસર) એક એન.આર.આઈ. પાસેથી તેની સિરિયલ બનાવવા છ મહિને ભાડે લીધો છે. સિરિયલનું શૂટિંગ વહેલું પૂરું થઈ ગયું છે, અને હજી ૩૩ દિવસ બાકી છે, એટલે બાકીના દિવસ માટે આપણને આ બગલો મળ્યો છે. તમે ફટાફટ આઠ દસ એપિસોડની વાર્તા લખી નાખો. આપણે ક્યાંક ફીટ કરી દઈશું. સાલું બધુ તૈયાર છે, ફક્ત શૂટિંગ જ કરવાનું છે.’

આટલું કહીને શેઠે સોફા પર પડતું મૂક્યું અને બબડવા લાગ્યા, ‘સાલી, આ તે કંઈ જિંદગી છે? હું ધંધો કરવા બેઠો છું, કંઈ સદાવ્રત નથી ખોલ્યું. બીજા ધંધા સારા, એક જ બ્રાંડનો માલ વેચવાનો. મારે તો રોજ રોજ નવું જ કરવાનું હોય. પડદા પર એકના એક ચહેરાઓ, પછી ભલે ના રૂપાળા હોય, તો ય તે જોઈને પબ્લિક થાકી જાય છે. પબ્લિક રોજ રોજ નવી નવી વાર્તાઓ, નવા નવા ચહેરાઓ, નવા નવા લોકેશનો માગે છે. શેઠને ઘોરણ ચડવા લાગ્યું, એટલે હું વાર્તામાં ક્યાં વળાંક લાવવો, તેનો હું વિચાર કરતો કરતો ઘેર આવ્યો ને કામે લાગી ગયો.

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Signs of Imperfection ?

Politicians,
particularly at election time,
like nothing better
than to call this country
“the greatest, the most powerful,
the most beautiful, and the very best,…”
when compared to all others,
existing anywhere in the world…
and yet it takes no more than
two fanatically misguided youths
to traumatize us, to shake our confidence
to the very core,
to unnerve us,
and to put us to the test.
We call ourselves a free and open society,
we consider our culture
to be free and open,
welcoming all who ask to be admitted
with open doors and open arms,
with hands extended
with a friendly greeting and a smile…
as immigrants to come and settle
in our midst and to partake
in what we think makes us great…
extending opportunities to any and all
to find themselves in freedom,
to have a house and home,
to find employment,
to raise a family
free from fear…
and yet, what causes
two young people
to turn from these ways
and then against us?
What causes them willfully
to bring harm,
suffering, carnage, bloodshed, and death,
and to cause chaos
for people whom they had never met,
who had done nothing to them,
people who had assembled
in peace, in order to celebrate,
to enjoy and to cheer
the efforts of others
who were running, in so many ways,
in celebration of freedom?
It had caused a free society
to shut down a part of itself in freedom,
in order to protect itself.
They had virtually forced
civil society in a great city of freedom
to come to standstill
while being searched and purged
of apparent deadly evil doers.
It had caused a free society
to be reminded of its vulnerability.
It had compelled free people
to rally to the cause
of protecting, defending
and sheltering freedom,
and not to take it for granted.
The perpetrators were identified,
cornered, trapped,
one killed, one caught.
Now we are free to reflect,
at least momentarily
once again relieved
and unburdened from fear.
We mourn the dead.
We think with profound concern
of all the victims.
We hope that what had been
shredded and torn,
can again be mended.
We hope that all the hurt
of body, spirit and soul
can again heal
and be made whole.
We are free once again
to think and detect
what makes us who we are,
what makes us special and unique…
and therein lies a duty, an obligation…
not to be overbearing,
not to be arrogant,
but to be courteous,
kind and caring.
We need to prove
to ourselves and the world
that love conquers all,
that love defeats
hatred and fear…
that nothing can weaken or destroy
the real  and  true values
we all cherish and hold dear.

© Gerhard A. Fürst
4/21/2013

Written as a tribute to all who had come to the defense, rescue, and the reestablishment of freedom in Boston !

courtesy : 'Africana Orientalia'

'The word "Wait!" rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity': 50 years on Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham jail is still a remarkable work

In 1963 Dr Martin Luther King defended his campaign of direct action to religious leaders calling for negotiation. Here ….. is some idea of the power of King’s words and the clarity of his vision

Some 50 years ago this week one of the great documents of the twentieth century was written in a prison cell on scraps of newspaper pages smuggled out to a lawyer. Its author was Dr Martin Luther King, newly imprisoned for taking his campaign of non-violent protest to the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, then America's most cussedly bigoted and segregated city.

Little known outside the United States, or to civil rights specialists, the ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ is a remarkable work, justifying his actions, in the cadences and soaring language which King would make immortal a few months later in his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech at a Washington rally.

The letter was written in response to a plea, by eight white ministers of religion, for King and his comrades to stop their protests and settle instead for a policy of patient waiting and the hope of negotiation.

King’s letter is 7,000-words long. Here ….. is some idea of the power of King’s words and the clarity of his vision.

Time, and the progress swiftly made by him and his supporters, are a vindication of all that he worked and yearned for.

Courtesy : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-word-wait-rings-in-the-ear-of-every-negro-with-piercing-familiarity-50-years-on-martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail-is-still-a-remarkable-work-8581225.html

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*AUTHOR'S NOTE: This response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama (Bishop C. C. J. Carpenter, Bishop Joseph A. Durick, Rabbi Hilton L. Grafman, Bishop Paul Hardin, Bishop Holan B. Harmon, the Reverend George M. Murray. the Reverend Edward V. Ramage and the Reverend Earl Stallings) was composed under somewhat constricting circumstance. Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly Negro trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me. Although the text remains in substance unaltered, I have indulged in the author's prerogative of polishing it for publication.

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL
April 16, 1963

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

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 statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

I think I should indicate why I am here In Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." 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. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation.

Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants — for example, to remove the stores humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.

As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves : "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" We decided to schedule our direct-action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic withdrawal program would be the by-product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change.

Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoralty election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run-off we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run-off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct-action program could be delayed no longer.

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken .in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor. will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." 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; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you go forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may want to ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all"
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I-it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and awful. Paul Tillich said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression 'of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.

Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to ace the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fan in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. 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 an 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.

In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.

I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this 'hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At fist I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do-nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.

If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble-rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.

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. And now this approach is being termed extremist.

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …" So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some—such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle—have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.

Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a non segregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.

But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative .critics who can always find. something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of Rio shall lengthen.

When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leader era; an too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.

I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious. irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, on Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.

I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious-education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? l am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide. and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Par from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it vi lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ecclesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom, They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jai with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham, ham and all over the nation, because the goal of America k freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation-and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.

Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handing the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."

I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. There will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. There will be the old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest." There will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?

If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Courtesy : http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html