50 Years ago Today

 A group of ministers wrote a letter to Rev. Martin Luther King, urging him to be patient in dealing with the Birmingham authorities. They wrote:

"...we further strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations,

and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham. When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets.

 That very same day, King was sentenced to nine days in the Birmingham city jail.
     While he was there, he wrote his "Letter From The Birmingham City Jail" in reply to their letter. 

"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."

    In the 1980's in Birmingham, I interviewed Rabbi Milton Grafman one of the men who wrote the letter to King, and it was clear he was still deeply hurt by King's letter, as King was by theirs.
   The last of the two signers of the letter died in 2006.