“Don’t hate, it’s too big a burden to bear.” - Martin Luther King, Jr ・・・ This is wise advice that is so hard to implement into practice. I know that if anyone had reason to hate it is Martin Luther King. Jr. (MLK) One only has to look at life for African Americans in the Jim Crow South. The official use of segregation laws to secure a second class position for African Americans for decades. It was more than segregation though, it was the significantly inferior infrastructure and services and the obstacles to voting faced by African Americans. The violent reaction to civil rights activism was violent and backed up by largely white police forces given support from racist political leaders. MLK saw the beating, fire hoses, and attack dogs used against civil rights activists. MLK was imprisoned and used the time to compose the manuscript entitled, “Letter From A Birmingham Jail,” an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts. Responding to being referred to as an "outsider," King writes, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". The letter, written during the 1963 Birmingham campaign, was widely published, and became an important text for the American Civil Rights Movement. If a person can endure all this and still give the advice on the dangers of hate, I must review the times I’ve hated and the realization that holding onto it is a burden while channeling my indignation into non-violent activism is much more satisfying. . . . #Quote #MartinLutherKingJr #MLK #DoNotHate #NonViolence #NonViolentCivilDisobedience #Activism #HateIsTooBigABurden