On the recordApril 16, 2013
Today I rise to join so many Americans across this Nation and this world in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's ``Letter from a Birmingham Jail.'' After being arrested on April 12, 1963, Dr. King came across an article in The Birmingham News entitled ``White Clergymen Urge Local Negroes to Withdraw From Demonstrations.'' The eight White clergymen who authored that article were very critical of Dr. King and the others who demonstrated. They called the demonstrations ``untimely and unwise.'' These criticisms inspired Dr. King to pen a letter that was published upon his release on April 16, 1963. The letter became one of the most preeminent documents of the civil rights era. So today I join the voices around the world as I read in part from this beautifully written, masterful document, ``Letter from a Birmingham Jail'' by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: 16 April, 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 criticisms 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 else . . . But since I feel that you are men of genuine goodwill, and that your criticisms are sincere and heartfelt, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be a patient and reasonable term.…
