Dr. Martin Luther King wrote "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" in response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama who fiercely criticized King for organization and participation in the protest march against segregation in Birmingham. These men essentially believed that Dr. King was corrupting their community, especially the youth, which simply wasn't true. Dr. King's letter was an attempt to defend himself from accusations and to criticize white moderates and church. The eight clergymen who said that this demonstration was "unwise and untimely" wanted Dr. King to stand down and that was something that he just could not do. He had not only witnessed but felt the many injustices going on; to me this letter was not only a response but also a wake up call to America.
             From the first lines of the letter, Martin Luther King tries to reject the accusation of being an outsider in Birmingham. He states the fact that he was invited to Birmingham and had organizational ties as the president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Also, Dr. Martin Luther King did not consider himself to be an outsider due to the fact that all people who live within bounds of the United States of America could not be described as outsiders. How can one be an outsider in their own country? That is the question that we must ask; how could it be that one can be considered an outsider even though they were born and raised within the borders of the same country as you, someone who has walked the same streets and even fought hard to improve the country.
             While addressing the eight men, Dr. King said, 'you deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being. That statement directly addresses the fact that they chose to turn a blind eye or rather lessened the actions that caused Dr. King to...