Every Day is MLK Day; No One is an Outsider
- Pamela Ruiter -Feenstra
- Feb 3
- 4 min read
MLK Day stands as an essential day of unity, inspiration, and empowerment; a day to name injustices and a call to continued action. The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s social justice advocacy for Black people cannot be contained in just one significant day. Dr. King appealed to people to engage in social justice advocacy every day, and he practiced what he preached.
In April of 1963, Dr. King was imprisoned for participating in a peaceful protest for the Birmingham desegregation campaign. Did being in jail stop his activism? Not for a moment.
Eight white clergymen, whom he thought would support the movement in the name of justice, criticized his protests and asked him to wait for the new city administration to act. He had already delayed action twice due to similar appeals. (Stalling techniques continue to be tactics used to undermine social justice progress.) Dr. King responded to the clergy with a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” dated April 16, 1963.
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
In the letter, Dr. King implored the clergymen to look at the underlying causes for the protests
and marches rather than to silence and criticize those who were protesting. He asked them to see the racial injustices Black people experience: segregation, lack of access to equitable education, restaurants, transportation, trash services, and social services; unjust treatment in the courts; and home bombings. He reported that although he and other Civil Rights leaders committed to peaceful protests and had repeatedly asked city leaders to work on solutions with them, the city officials persistently refused to engage with them.
Dr. King appealed to them to see the interconnectedness of all humanity. He stated,
“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. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”
Injustice anywhere? Such as in Minneapolis recently? Injustice there is a threat to justice everywhere.
Dr. King's words ring as true today as they did 63 years ago.
Imagine with Dr. King a country in which the administration and all inhabitants espoused the humane concept that no one living in the U. S. “can be considered an outsider.”
Imagine a country where, instead of pouring billions of dollars into an irrecoverable black hole of dehumanization–tearing families apart, arresting children, using horrific violence with impunity, obstructing due process; building windowless, squalid, overcrowded private deportation centers where investors profit from the suffering of other humans–imagine instead that we invest in the Golden Rule, of treating others the way we want to be treated. Imagine that–rather than delivering inhumane treatment, denying people basic rights of clean water, food, hygienic shelter, care, and community,–we invest in their wellbeing and build windowed welcome centers surrounded by nature.
These welcome centers would offer wraparound services that include healthcare, humane shelters that keep families intact, educational programs with childcare, safe and sound educational opportunities for children, tutoring for adults to finish high school and prepare for college, job and career training, language learning, mental health counseling, healing arts engagement, community gardens and cooking classes in which the community engages in planting, growing, harvesting, and preparing nutritious food together. What else would you add to this vision?
This vision is a vision of empowerment, a vision that would result in the care that everyone deserves. This vision would help people know that they belong, that they matter. This vision would open up opportunities for people to contribute meaningfully to society for decades to come.
Although Dr. King was murdered before he could see the results of his activism, he planted seeds each day that empowered others to stand up and advocate for human rights of Black people and all those who are oppressed.
May his legacy live on in each of us.
FAQs
1. Why did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. write a letter to white clergymen from the Birmingham Jail?
As a Civil Rights leader, Dr. King was criticized constantly. He rarely responded to criticism, and focused instead on working to remove oppressions and establish rights for Black people. He made an exception in writing to the white clergymen because he, too, was a minister. He appealed to them through their shared profession, and challenged them with Bible passages and history lessons that spoke to the need to end social injustices.
2. Where can I learn more about Dr. King’s letter?
You may read the full content of Dr. King’s letter here, or by pasting this url in your server: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Listen to Dr. King reading his letter here.
3. What does Dr. King mean when he wrote “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny”?
Dr. King is referring to the interdependence of all humans. When one person suffers, all people suffer. Although people in power often perceive themselves as superior and give themselves the perceived right to treat others disrespectfully or even inhumanely, that behavior does not ultimately help the person in power or make them feel better. The opposite is true. The behavior is destructive to all involved. The Jewish Talmud has a similar perspective, “Whoever saves one life saves the entire world. Whoever destroys one life destroys the entire world.”
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