In remembrance of the life and courageous witness of Rev. Dr. MLK, Jr. today, I reread his “Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963). His letter was a response to a statement issued by several white clergy who objected to Dr. King’s methods of protest.
Dr. King reminded me that if we were to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus to love and fight for justice for every person, we need to be “disturbers of the peace.” Unjust laws need to be changed. He quoted St. Augustine, “an unjust law is no law at all.” Just laws lift people up and allow them to live up to their God-given possibilities.
Some may say that we have come a long way when Dr. King wrote his letter in a narrow cell. But his call for action to disturb the status quo is as much needed today as it was 54 years ago. There is a change in the air. And what is more appropriate to begin this week with the words of Dr. King as we will end this week with a new president charged to carry out the just laws of our land.