MLK Day

I finally read MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written 50 years ago this April 16, and the “Statement by Alabama Clergymen” that preceded it.

I daresay that at this point, the eight signers of the “Statement” are little known and barely remembered by any but their immediate families. Rather than being honored as stalwarts of the community, their cowardice, paranoia and lack of understanding of the times make them ignominious participants in the ghastly history of racism in the US.

MLK’s letter is remarkable in its erudition, logic and poetry. The manner in which he wrote it is also remarkable:

“Dr. King had no paper, so he wrote his response around the edges of the newspaper ad and on pieces of toilet paper in his cell. Later, or one of the other attorneys brought him a notepad. King could only work in the daytime when he had enough scant light to see. When he finished the response, and his other attorneys secretly slipped the assorted bits and pieces of the letter from King’s cell and into the hands of NAACP’s Wyatt Walker. Walker and his secretary, Willie Pearl Mackey, pieced together the scraps of paper, and Mackey typed out the rough draft of the letter.

“Andrew Young recalled that Willie Pearl Mackey “had a terrible time reading Martin’s handwriting. Most of the letter was brought in installments delivered from the jail by our attorneys, Clarence Jones, Ozell Billingsley, and Arthur Shores, during their trips to jail to visit Martin.” When Mackey had finished typing the draft, one of King’s lawyers smuggled it back to Dr. King to edit and make corrections. Then one of the lawyers carried it back to Walker.”

Arthur Shores, Martin Luther King, Jr. And The Story Of The Letter From The Birmingham Jail