A Higher Sense of Justice

           I cannot count how many times I have listened to or read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I have also read his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” multiple times. Nevertheless, I noticed something new on this review. Even as we fete his principles and celebrate his work – justly so! – we, as a nation, have bankrupted the meaning of his work and betrayed his calling. His dream was that his children would not be judged by “the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” – when in these days we distinguish by every possible label but moral and immoral, good and bad. He spoke in faith that the bank of justice was not bankrupt, but we who evaluate society these 49 years later must wonder. For justice of his kind is sadly lacking, as a whole. According to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., justice is rooted in Biblical morality, promotes human dignity, is inseparable from liberty, and is worth any sacrifice.

Many times throughout the “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” he references the Biblical principles which inform his views on justice. For example, he frequently references various Bible passages which pertain to God’s justice, in application to the movement toward justice which he champions. He stated, “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”  This is from Isaiah 40, originally referring to the coming of the Savior who will show God’s justice to the world. The next passage he quotes is from Amos 5. In it, God pleads with Israel through the prophet Amos: forsake your impure religion, and follow the path of My righteousness, “until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”’

Most notably, Martin Luther King Jr. constantly referred to members of all racial groups as “God’s children,” evoking a rich Biblical history of racial equality. This history began with the Biblical story of the first man, Adam, from whom all races came. It continued as both Jews and non-Jews became part of the lineage of Jesus. It continued further with the New Testament declaration that there is “no longer Jew or Greek” – note that that particular delineation was at least as strong as the one between black and white, though with some different connotations – “…for we are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3). And that history of equality will conclude, according to the Bible, with people of “every nation and tribe and tongue” worshiping before God at the end of days (Revelation 5).

Martin Luther King Jr. not only makes his connection between justice and Biblical morality by oblique references, but also by direct statement. He said, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and “natural law.” A just law, a moral law, is a law of God, according to Martin Luther King Jr.

Moreover, a just law is a law that promotes human dignity. As he himself said in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail,

Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. 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. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Any law that promotes morality and human dignity must necessarily treat people equally. Equality, or rather brotherhood, was his primary goal. Therefore any law imposed on one group which is not binding on another, is unjust. This is the separation, the unjust assumption of mastery or superiority by one brother toward another, which he denounces so strongly: unequal treatment of groups is wrong.

Clearly, Martin Luther King Jr. believed that justice and brotherhood are inseparable from liberty. In his I Have a Dream speech, he referenced the “promissory note to which every American was to fall heir” – the binding promise of liberty and equality of the most fundamental kind – “a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Why? “All men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator” with those certain inalienable rights, according to the Declaration of Independence. Why? “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice” the Constitution reads. It is these ‘checks’ that Martin Luther King Jr. wishes to cash. These principles and promises are the foundation of liberty in America, from which Martin Luther King Jr. built his wonders of hope and dreams of a future of brotherhood.

From this clear understanding of justice he built his strategy of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the thoughtful disobedience of unjust laws with a willingness to suffer the retribution that the law deals to lawbreakers. Historically, civil disobedience began with believers’ simple intention of preserving their moral character by refusing to obey laws that violated their conscience despite the threat of martyrdom. Martin Luther King Jr. explained, “Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire.” However, Martin Luther King Jr., like Gandhi and others in the modern era, developed the idea of civil disobedience into something more: political activism. This action to remain faithful to a religion despite persecution became a call to arms to awaken the consciences of decent people everywhere. Civil disobedience became a movement of many, intended to influence the beliefs and actions of others. To that end, civil disobedience became strategic and intentional, designed for public visibility.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a single, crucial governing principle: “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.” Justice unjustly pursued is not justice at all, according to him. Therefore, he created a set of methods which prevented, as much as possible, the possibility of injustice being committed by the activists. Before any planned action of civil disobedience, the situation must be thoroughly, independently verified. Did injustice occur? Was it systematic? Was it supported by the local government and power structure? If these and similar questions received affirmative answers, Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders entered a process of negotiation. Would the local ‘powers-that-be’ be willing to purge the injustices? If not, Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters entered an extensive period of introspection and preparation. They trained themselves not to retaliate when treated unjustly. They also taught each other how to protect themselves from the some of the damage which they expected the police to inflict. But most of all, they purged their own hurt, bitterness, and anger, so that not only their actions but also their motivations would be just. As they trained themselves in this way, they also identified which law to disobey, or how best to go about their protest to create the maximum impact – within the bounds of justice. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail that he and his fellow activists postponed their actions several times so that they did not interfere with the local elections. In all these preparations for action, Martin Luther King Jr.’s guiding principle, justice in the pursuit of justice, was clear.

Unfortunately, even as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., we betray that vision of his. He believed not in separation, but in brotherhood. America is a fundamentally divided nation, not only on the question of race (though certainly on that), but on sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, political leaning, and innumerable other dichotomies. He believed in the pursuit of the morally right, defined in terms of Biblical standards and simple standards of human decency. Meanwhile American culture ties itself in knots avoiding even the appearance of calling something evil. But Dr. King knew that only when we pursue the morally right in brotherhood will we be truly free.