Passage Based Focused Freewrite: From MLK Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was "well timed" according to the timetable 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 a piercing familiarity. This "wait" has almost always meant "never." It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration. We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter." -Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"

As I was reading Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter, this was the passage that struck me the most. MLK Jr. was in jail and had much time to reflect on his actions, which were of peaceful and nonviolent protests for civil rights and justice. He made the clear point known that without these peaceful protests, the problem would not get better. The white men were not simply going to grant equality on any given day because they felt like it. The oppressed people needed to speak out in order to sway the oppressors. Another good point he makes in his letter is that there is no good time or right time for these protests. Nobody particularly likes getting protested against, so of course they are going to think it's not a good time. But according to the oppressed, it was something that needed to happen. "Justice too long delayed is justice denied" perfectly embodies that concept. The longer they wait, the longer it will take to see change, if at all. Putting a number on how long the maltreated have been waiting for their rights of which this nation was founded is also powerful. "Three hundred and forty years..." if that doesn't put things into perspective, I don't know what does.