Martin Luther King wrote the letter at a time when racial discrimination was so rife in America. His primary concern was the injustices that blacks were being subjected to simply because of their complexion. The result of the injustices was strife and direct action in the form of peaceful protests (Oppenheimer, 1992). I feel that Martin Luther was right in his sentiments. There comes a time when the oppressed have to fight for their freedom. As Socrates says, it is necessary to create tension in the mind so that individuals can rise from the myths of half-truths. The black people in America had been urged for long to stay patient yet even the Governors were still encouraging racial discrimination in some states.
Martin Luther wrote the letter 98 years after slavery had been banned in America yet blacks were still being treated as lesser people. The lynching of blacks, police brutality and killings were quite common in many states (Oppenheimer, 1992). Ironically, the Southern churches were not helping anymore with the situation. Discrimination is still rife in the USA and all over the world. Somehow, many white people have not yet accepted the fact that black is just a skin color and that they are human after all. Police brutality among blacks is an everyday issue. Many black men often innocent have become victims of police brutality in the USA.
The recent clash between black demonstrators and white supremacists in Charlottesville showed the world a true picture of discrimination. That there is a race that deems itself important due to their skin color. Some schools still have in place discriminatory policies that further worsen the problem of racism. According to the US Department of Education, minority students often get harsher treatments and unfair grading policies compared to their majority counterparts (Alhumam, 2015). Also, African-American students are expelled at a higher rate than the other counterparts. Discrimination is still a big problem the world over as it was in the 18th Century. The sad thing is that it has infiltrated into schools thus affecting the young minds that could have brought change in the world.
References
Oppenheimer, D. B. (1992). Martin Luther King, Walker v. City of Birmingham, and the Letter from Birmingham Jail. UC Davis L. Rev., 26, 791. https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Alhumam, I. (2015). Reflections on Racism in American Schools. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(11), 160-161. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1081672.pdf