Outside Reading #2

"All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I-it" relationship for an "I-thou"  relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful." Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

After being arrested for his protest of the unjust segregation laws, Martin Luther King wrote these words in response to the white moderate clergy who claimed his actions were too extreme, and he should pursue a more peaceful protest. Here, King demonstrates the connection between the religious and the social. Pointing to Martin Buber, he explains the incredible detriment of I-it thinking and the objectification of man. Later on in this section, King explains that the most prominent form of segregation is man's ultimate segregation from God. Sin introduced the ultimate I-it relationship between man and God and it was only through Jesus that this relationship was transformed into an I-thou relationship. Here, King demonstrates that the religious paradigm that man holds has dramatic implications for the social context they later proclaim.

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