Washington D.C., Jan 23, 2011 / 18:09 pm
Decades after Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” leading clergy including several Catholic bishops have issued a response. They praised the sacrifices of the civil rights movement’s leaders and said work against racism is “unfinished.”
The response, titled “A Letter from Birmingham,” is a product of the 2011 Annual Meeting of Christian Churches Together, held Jan. 11-14 in Birmingham, Alabama. Attendees at the meeting, which examined poverty through the lens of racism, said that to their knowledge no one had ever issued a clergy response to Dr. King’s letter.
King’s 1963 letter was a response to Birmingham clergy who had appealed for unity, restraint and “common sense” while withdrawing their support for the civil rights demonstrations.
The 2011 letter expressed “profound gratitude” to the leaders of the civil rights movement, saying their sacrifices have “moved us closer to God’s justice” and demonstrated “the power of Christian, nonviolent action.”