Question

One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." The above paragraph in bold is another of King’s most well known statements. Choose an example from United States history which represents the "painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor." Choose an example which illustrates his point that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

Answer 1

One example of "painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor" in United States history is the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Despite decades of peaceful protests and civil disobedience, African Americans were still denied basic civil rights and faced widespread discrimination and segregation. It took sustained legal and nonviolent pressure, including marches, boycotts, and sit-ins, to force the government to take action and pass legislation to end segregation and discrimination.

An example of "justice too long delayed is justice denied" can be seen in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) where the US Supreme Court ruled that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court. This decision upheld the institution of slavery and denied basic rights to African Americans, further delaying justice and equality for decades until the Civil War and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.