Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation

by LaTasha Morrison

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King responded directly to those clergymen. Bemoaning the lack of support from the White moderates of Birmingham, moderates represented by the clergymen, King wrote, I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.5 King’s letter unapologetically voiced the frustrations of so many African Americans who were fighting for civil rights. Despite their espoused Christian values, those moderates had never given genuine support to the civil rights leaders. In fact, many of those White moderate Christians spoke out against the fight for racial equality.