Comments and discussion

In your analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., you can consider commenting on some of the claims made by the writer that are particularly interesting or controversial.

For example, one of the most memorable parts of the text is the one arguing in favor of intervening wherever there’s an injustice: “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.” (ll. 46-49).

Consider that this statement effectively suggests that human rights are universal and defends intervention when human rights are violated. This principle has often been used in other circumstances than during the civil rights movement, such as when countries intervene in other countries where human rights are violated. However, there is a conflict between the principle of autonomy or sovereignty and the principle of intervention, a conflict which was also exploited by the clergymen who claimed King’s intervention in Birmingham, Alabama was wrong because he was an ou...