Today we do it again. I am pleased that we have one again three republicans, three democrats to take part in this historic reading. And at this point, as we get to that letter, id like to yield the floor to my friend from south carolina, senator scott, for a special introduction to this important reading. I yield the floor, madam president. Mr. Scott thank you, madam president. The presiding officer the senator from south carolina. Mr. Scott thank you, maam. Madam president , we are at a critical time in our nations history. I think we can all sense the opportunity that is before us. Through the challenges of covid and the death of george floyd and its aftermath, we can affect real lasting change. Perhaps the most famous line from dr. Kings letter from birmingham jail is injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Let me say that one more time. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere where. More than at any time i can remember, people of all ages and races are standing up together for the idea that lady justice must be blind. And although covid has delayed this now annual reading of dr. Kings letter, it is truly never been more important than it is right now. I want to thank all of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for reading today and senator jones for putting this together again. Every time we hear them, the words of dr. King teach us something new. I hope the nation hears these words with an open mind and an open heart and we all come together unified for a bigger purpose. Senator jones, let me just close by saying this. That the letter from the birmingham jail was a letter written to the clergy of the time as senator hawley was speaking about the importance of standing up for our religious liberties, the one thing he said at the end was, we should stand up now for all the issues facing our nation. The economic issues, the racial issues, and i thought its and appropriate that following that its important and appropriate that following that speech you have the reading of the letter from the birmingham jail to the leaders, the religious leaders to become involved and engaged in this current struggle. Thats how change comes to america. Thank you leading this process. Mr. Kennedy madam president . The presiding officer the senator from louisiana. Mr. Kennedy madam president , with me today is one of my colleagues from my office, mr. Blaine callus. Madam president , the words of dr. King. Letter from a birmingham jail. April 16, 1963. My dear fellow clergymen, while confined here in the Birmingham City jail, i came across your recent statement calling my present activities unwise and untimely. Seldom do i pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If i sought to answer all of the criticisms that crossed my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of a day. And i would have no time for but since i feel that you are men of genuine goodwill and tht your criticisms are sincerely set forth, i want to try to answer your statement in what i hope will be patient and reasonable terms. I think i should indicate why i am here in birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against outsiders coming in. I have the honor of serving as president of the southern christian leadership conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in atlanta, georgia. We have some 85 affiliated organizations across the south, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for human rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and Financial Resources with our affiliates. Several months ago, the affiliate here in birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct Action Program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came, we lived up to our promise. So i, along with several members of my staff, am here because i was invited here. I am here because i have organizational ties here. But, more basically, i am in birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century b. C. Left their villages and carried their thus saith the lord far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns, and just as the apostle paul left his village of tarsus and carried the gospel of jesus christ to the far corners of the greco roman world, so am i compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own hometown. Like paul, i must constantly respond to the macedonian call for aid. Moreover, i am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an Inescapable Network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial outside agitator idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. You deplore the demonstrations taking place in birmingham. But your statement, i am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the citys white power structure left the African American community with no alternative in any nonviolent campaign, there are four basic steps collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; selfpurification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that Racial Injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. African americans have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of African American homes and churches in birmingham than in any other city . The nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, African American leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation. Then, last september, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of birminghams economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants for example, to remove the stores humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for human rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of selfpurification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves are you able to accept blows without retaliating . Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail . We decided to schedule our direct Action Program for the easter season, realizing that except for christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic Withdrawal Program would be the byproduct of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change. Then it occurred to us that birminghams Mayoral Election was coming up in march, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the commissioner of public safety, eugene bull connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the runoff, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the runoff so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct Action Program could be delayed no longer. The words of dr. Kings a letter from a birmingham jail, april 16, 1963. Madam president , i yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from alabama. Mr. Jones thank you, madam president. Continuing the reading from the letter from the birmingham jail. You may well ask why direct action . Why sitins, marches, and so forth . Isnt negotiation a better path . You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But i must confess that i am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and halftruths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the Majestic Heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct Action Program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I, therefore, concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue. One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that i and my associates have taken in birmingham is untimely. Some have asked why didnt you give the new City Administration time to act . The only answer that i can give to this query is that the New BirminghamAdministration Must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to birmingham. While mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, i must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, i have yet to engage in a direct Action Campaign that was well timed in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now i have heard the word wait it rings in the ear of every negro with piercing familiarity. This wait has almost always meant never. We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that justice too long delayed is justice denied. We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and godgiven rights. The nations of asia and africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horseandbuggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hatefilled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your Black Brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your 20 million negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you take a crosscountry drive and find it mess to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you, when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading white, and colored, when your first name becomes an expletive, your middle name becomes boy, however old you are, and your last name becomes john and your wife and mother are never given the respected title mrs. Mrs. ; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments, when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of nobodiness then you will understand why [i] find it difficult to wait. Madam chair, id yield the floor. Mr. Lankford madam president . The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Lankford there comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the supreme courts decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others . The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with st. Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all. Now, what is the difference between the two . How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust . A just law is a manmade 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. 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 mans 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. Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power Majority Group compels a Minority Group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, s a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of alabama which set up that states segregation laws was democratically elected . Throughout alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured . Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, i have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of Peaceful Assembly and protest. I hope you are able to see the distinction i am trying to point out. In no sense do i advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice is, in reality, expressing the highest respect for law. 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. To a degree, Academic Freedom is a reality today because socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience. We should never forget that everything adolf hitler did in germany was legal and everything that the hungarian Freedom Fighters did in hungary was illegal. It was illegal to aid and comfort a jew in hitlers germany. Even so, i am sure that, had i lived in germany at the time, i would have aided and comforted my jewish brothers. If today i lived in a communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian Faith are suppressed, i would openly advocate disobeying that countrys antireligious laws. I must make two honest confessions to you, my christian and jewish brothers. First, i must confess that over the past few years, i have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the negros great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the white citizens counselor 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 mans 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 goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the south is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness for the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of National Opinion before it can be cured. With that i yield. Mr. Brown madam president . The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown a letter from a birmingham jail, dr. Martin luther king jr. In your statement , you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion . Isnt this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery . Isnt this like condemning socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock . Isnt this like condemning jesus because his unique god consciousness and neverceasing devotion to gods will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion . We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic Constitutional Rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in texas. He writes all christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken christianity almost 2,000 years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of christ take time to come to earth. Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more i feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with god, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national now is the time to lift our National Policy from the quicksand of Racial Injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. You speak of our activity in birmingham as extreme. At first i was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that i stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of selfrespect in the sense of somebodiness that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middleclass negroes who, because of a degree of academic and Economic Security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammads muslim movement. Nourished by the negros frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost nourished by the contemporary frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in america, who have absolutely repudiated christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible devil. I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need not follow the donothingism of the complacent or the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. There is a more excellent way, of love and nonviolent protest. Im grateful to god that, through the negro church, the concept of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, i am convinced that by now many streets of the south would be flowing with floods of blood. And i am further convinced that if our White Brothers dismiss as rabblerousers and outside agitators those of us who are working through the channels of nonviolent direct action and refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of negroes, out of frustration and despair, will seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies, a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for the yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. And that is what is happening to the american negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom. Something without has reminded him that it is something that can be gained. Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the germans call the zeitgeist, and with his Black Brothers of africa and his brown and yellow brothers of asia, south america and the caribbean, is United States negro moving with a sense of cosmic urgency toward the Promised Land of Racial Justice. Recognizing this vital urge that has engulfed the negro community, one should readily understand public demonstrations. The negro has many pentup and latent frustrations. He has to let them out. So we will march sometime, let him have his prayer pilgrimages to the city hall understand why , he must have sitins and if his repressed emotions do not freedom rides. Come out in these nonviolent ways, they will come out in ominous expressions of violence. This is not a threat. It is a fact of history. So i have not said to my people, get rid of your discontent. But i have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled through the Creative Outlet of nonviolent direct action. Now this approach is being dismissed as extremist. While i was initially disappointed in being categorized as extremist, i gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered in extremist. Was notas this jesus and extremist in love . Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. Was not amos an extremist for justice . Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Was not paul an extremist for the gospel of jesus christ . I bear in my body the marks of the lord jesus. Was not Martin Luther an extremist . Here i stand; i can do no other so help me god. Was not john bunyan an extremist . I will stay in jail to the end of my days before i make a mockery of my conscience. Was not Abraham Lincoln and extremist . This nation cannot survive half slave and half free. Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist . We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal. So the question is not whether we will be extremist, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate, or will we be extremists will we be extremists for the for love . Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice . I had hoped that the white moderate would see this. Maybe i was too optimistic. Maybe i expected too much. I i guess i should have realized that few members of a race that has oppressed another race can understand or appreciate the deep groans and passionate yearnings of those that have been oppressed, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our White Brothers have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too small in quantity, but they are big in quality. Reading i continue letter from birmingham jail, by Martin Luther king jr. That each of you would understand. But again i have been disappointed. I have heard numerous religious leaders of the south call upon their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but i have longed to follow this decree because hear white minister say follow this decree because integration , is morally right and the negro is your brother. Some such as ralph mcgill, lillian smith, James Mcbride dabs and syrup patent boil have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms, others have marched with us, languished in filthy, rocheinfested jails, suffered the brutality of police men who view them as dirty expletive was lovers. Many of their moderate brothers, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful action antidotes to combat the disease of segregation. Let me take note of my other disappointment. I have been disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, reverend stallings, for your christian stand this past sunday in welcoming negroes to your Baptist ChurchWorship Service on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the catholic leaders of this state for integrating Springhill College several years ago. But despite these notable exceptions, i must honestly reiterate that i have been disappointed with the church. I do not say that as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say it as a minister of the gospel who loves the church, who was nurtured in its bosom, who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings, and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen. Suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in montgomery a few years ago, i thought we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests, and rabbis of the south would be some of our strongest allies. Instead, some few have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the Freedom Movement and misrepresenting its leaders. All too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind , the anesthetizing security of stainglass windows. In spite of my shattered dreams i came to birmingham with the , hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause, and with deep, moral conviction, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could get to the power structure. I had hoped each of you would understand. But again i have been , disappointed. I have heard numerous religious leaders of the south call upon their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but i have longed to hear white ministers say, follow this decree because integration is morally right and they negro is your brother. In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the negro, i have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, i have heard so many ministers say, those are social issues, of which the gospel has no concern. And i have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular. I have traveled throughout the south on sweltering summer days and crisp, autumn mornings, looking at the churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have admired the massive outlines of religious education buildings. Over and over, i found myself saying, what kind of people worship your . Who is their god . Where were their voices when the lips of governor barnett dripped with words of nullification . Where were they when governor wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred . Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary men and women decided to rise from dark dungeons to the bright heels of creative protest . Yes, these questions are still on my mind. In deep disappointment, i have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured, my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, i love the church. How could i do otherwise . I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson, and the greatgrandson of preachers. Yes, i see the church as a body haverist, but how we blemished and scarred that body through social neglect, and fear of being nonconformists. There was a time when the church was very powerful, in a time when the early questions early christians rejoiced at being able to suffer for what they believe. In those days, the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded ideas and principles of was of public opinion, it a thermostat that transformed the morays of society. Christiansrly entered a town, people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the christians for being disturbance of the peace and outside agitators. But the christians pressed on, in the conviction they were a colony of heaven called to obey god, rather than man. Small in number, they were. Small in number, they were big in commitment. There were two astronomically committed to be intimidated. They brought an end to ancient people such as infanticide and glutted tory contest. Things are different now. So often, the contemporary churches is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. Is an arch defender of the status quote. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the churchs silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are. But the judgment of god is upon the church as never before. Church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity forfeit the loyalty , of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th century. I meet young people every day whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust. Perhaps i have once again been too optimistic. His organized religion to inexplicably bound to the status quote to save our religion, and the world . Perhaps i should turn my faith to the interpersonal church, the Church Within the church, as the true ecclesia in the hope of the world. But again, i am thankful to god that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity, and joined us as active art news in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walk the streets of albany, georgia with us. They have gone down the highways of the south on the tortuous rights to freedom. Madam president , i yield. The senator from illinois. Senator i continue with the readings of letter from birmingham jail by dr. Martin luther king jr. From theirsed churches have lost the support of the bishops and fellow ministers, but they have acted in the fate that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. They have preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. Ofy have carved a tunnel hope through a Dark Mountain of disappointment. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, i have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in birmingham, even if our motives at present are misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of america is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with americas destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at plymouth, we were here. Jefferson pend of matched the words of the declaration of independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries, our forebears labored in this country without wages. They made cotton king. They built the halls of their masters while suffering gross injustice to answering full humiliation, and yet come out of a bottom disc that bottomless vitality, they continued to thrive. If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the oppositions we face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of god are embodied in our echoing demands. Feel impelled, i to mention one of the point that has troubled me profoundly. That thed me Birmingham Police force was for keeping order. I doubt you would warmly commend the police force if you had seen it dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent and egress. I doubt you would so quickly commend the police man if you were to observe their ugly and egroesne treatment of n here in the city jail, to watch them push incurs young women and girls, to see them slap and kick young negro men and boys. If you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refused to give up food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cant join you in your praise of the Birmingham Police department. It is to police of exercised a degree of discipline in handling they havetrators, but committed themselves nonviolently in public. For what purpose . To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years, i have preached nonviolent demands, that the means we use must be pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make it clear that it does wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now i must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve the moral ends. Perhaps mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent and public, as was chief prichard in albany, georgia. But they have used nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of Racial Injustice. As t. S. Eliot has said, the last temptation is the greatest treason, to do the right deed for the wrong reason. I wish you had commended the negro demonstrators of birmingham for their courage, their willingness to suffer, and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day, the south will recognize its real heroes. They will be with james meredith, with a noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering, hostile mobs, and with the loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. Battered need to women ro women,neg symbolized by a woman who rose up and decided not to ride segregated buses, and responded to one who inquired about her wariness, my feet are tired but my soul is at rest. They would be the Young High School and college students, ministers of the gospel, and elders courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters, and willingly going to jail for consciences sake. One day the south will know that when these disinherited children of god set down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the american dream, and for the most sacred values in our judeochristian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to this great world of democracy, by the Founding Fathers in their formulation of the declaration of independence. Never before have i written so long a letter. I am afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if i had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else is there what else can one do when he is alone in a jail cell other , than write long letters, think strange thoughts, and pray long prayers . If i have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates unreasonable patients, i think youve to forgive me. If i have said anything that understates the truth and indicates that we should settle for anything less than brotherhood. I beg god to forgive me. I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to eat for me to meet each of you, not as a civils right not as a civil rights leader, but as a fellow clergyman and christian brother. And that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon path away, and the deep racial misunderstanding will be lifted from our feardrenched communities. And in some not to distance tomorrow, the stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty. Yours for the cause of peace and brotherhood, Martin Luther king, jr. I yield the floor. The senator from alabama. Thank you. I want to thank my colleagues who joined me today. As senator scott said, we had hoped to do this in april, on the anniversary of the writing of this letter. Unfortunately, the pandemic overtook us. But i dont think the tummy could be any better than today. And just as last year when we did this, i am sure each of my colleagues today will leave the floor with an even greater appreciation of dr. Kings and i hope, a better understanding of where america finds it self today. Itself today. When we think of dr. King, we usually think of him on the steps of the lincoln memorial, eloquently and passionately describing his dream for america, or behind a pulpit in memphis, urging his audience to press forward and not be discouraged in their quest for civil and equal rights, because he had to been to the mountaintop and had seen the Promised Land. It is astounding to read his thoughts that were read on the floor today, and picture him in a small, dirty jail cell, writing in longhand on napkins and scraps of paper and newspaper, to a group of ministers that were not hateful as much as they were questioning the need for action at that particular moment in 1963. There are some who would say that to share our thoughts on the situation today, i need to move beyond a letter written in 1963, beyond a call of action so long ago. Certainly it is true that there are more contemporary voices and writings that explain how we should see our time, and what actions are needed today and now, and in the present. After all, although it was uncertain in the spring of 1963, dr. King and the movement would go on to achieve historic theges with the signing of Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights act of 1965, and so many other legislative victories. I believe we are at a similar moment today, in this time, in this place, and that dr. Kings words are as contemporary as they are powerful. Become theabama had andl point of the Racism Division and hatred that existed throughout our nation. Bombings and fires in black neighborhoods were commonplace. Suspects, never apprehended. A governor, promising segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. Conner, shocking the nation when he unleashed Vicious Police dogs and fire hoses on innocent children engaged in a peaceful protest. And later in that year, a Church Bombing that killed four young girls, simply because of the color of their skin. Dr. Question on the day that king was arrested was, why now . Deathsk jail and perhaps to protest conditions in a city that dr. King had described as the most segregated in america, a city that had just elected a new City Government that had promised change . It is a question dr. King and all americans had heard for too long, and it was time for an answer. I believe the wisdom of this letter is perhaps the best frame to view how we move forward , the movementment of this time, the movement of this generation. In passage after passage, dr. King warns us how easily people can fall back to accepting the status quote, how easily people can hear the word, wait, when in fact, the word means never. From a jail cell in birmingham in 1963, dr. King told us that the action in that moment was so that issues of racism and inequality throughout the land would no longer be in order. No longer be ignored. And here we are 57 years later, 57 years later, and his words. Re still just as timely action in this moment, our moment, is likewise critical so that issues of systemic racism and inequality can finally be erased. Heeding many seem to be dr. Kings call for action, across the country we see it time and time again, hundreds if not thousands of people heeding actor king is call for action today. Mike registry at this moment is that so many people have either felt powerless or unaffected, that are willing to march and speak out, ready to change the fairness of our society, my greatest concern is that these would people will get distracted. It is easy to be overwhelmed at the magnitude of the problem. Is understandable to know understandable to not know where to begin. But it is not enough to simply agree, any longer, to simply have a conversation. King confesses to the ministers to whom he is responding, that he is gravely disappointed with what he terms in 1963 as the white moderate. If a conversation is all that comes from the moment that we are in, then our society will have lost the greatest chance of our lifetime to remedy wrongs that have compounded for centuries. For both our institutions and our society to meaningfully reverse the degenerating sense of nobodin ess. In this moment, we have a Critical Mass of society that can understand the legitimate and unavoidable in patients of which dr. King spoke. The last few months have made the truth of being black in america clear to all. Watched, somewhat helplessly, a pandemic that killed black people at a rate of almost two and a half times that of other americans, not from a mutation of the virus, but from an underfunded Health System that too often to apply too often deprived black Americans Care for diabetes, heart disease, and other Health Issues that are now described as preexisting conditions. Economic tolld an as blackowned businesses failed at twice the rate of others, and unemployment for black americans rose faster, and will stay higher, then those of the rest of america. Through this pandemic we have also seen the heroes, black workers delivering packages, stopping grocery stores, serving on the front lines in hospitals, and first responders. But the economic reality of being black in america remains a sin of our nation. There are certainly many black americans who have pushed through a system weighted against them to prosper, to find the american dream. We celebrate those folks, but must face the fact that discrimination and institutional racism push much too hard against of the health, education, Job Opportunities and Financial Security of those that this government of the united countedf america once as only 3 5 of a person. In the course of this pandemic, as we were seeing the and societye system that had been easy to pretend on our really exist, screens came a video of a black man being killed by the needy of a Police Officer on the back of his neck. Knee of a Police Officer on the back of his neck. The image of george floyd, as low as one can possibly get in life, with a Police Officer, agent of the state, with his knee on his neck, keeping him on the ground, was far more than just an image of the legalities of the violation of George Floyds violation of civil rights under the color of law. It was an image of a society and a culture that keeps a knee on the next of black americans through systemic racism and scrimmage nation. Of i cantds cries breathe were not just the cries of an innocent man pleading for his life, but the cries of so many of our fellow americans, who are choked by a Health Care System that denies them access to polity, Affordable Health care, who are, in dr. Kings words, smothering in an airtight cage of poverty, who cant breathe the fresh air of affordable housing, education and Economic Opportunities, or who simply have to hold their own breath when they or their sons or daughters venture away from their home, fearing a Police Encounter that will take their life. Perhaps even more than the dogs and fire hoses in birmingham, or the state trooper beatings on the Edmund Pettus bridge in selma, alabama, the video of George Floyds last moments on earth was a confluence of events that gave our nation an image of itself that it could no longer president , i truly believe the soul of america has america,he streets of looking for a way for all her people to live in a more just society, that we are at a time when what i have called a try sis a crisis trifecta of health, economic and inequality has resulted in careful examination and introspection of our beliefs and why ortiz about race and about poverty. And that we have come to understand that more than it any doubt the time in the history more than at any of the time in the history of our country, that what affects one directly affects all indirectly. Standing on the floor of the United States senate, though, i know this moment requires more than introspection on our part. We in this body and in government does a whole have the power to affect actual change. To not do so with speed would be that a unpardonable, person, as an individual and citizen of the United States, i know that i must, like everyone in this country open my heart and mind to listen with concern and empathy, and to act as an individual. But i also know that as a United States senator, i am ready to that ieely admitting might not have the ideal solution orally answers, but not letting the theoretical perfect be the enemy of tangible change that we must see, not asking our citizens to wait any longer than they already have. We have acted before and we should act again. We are seeing proposals for Law Enforcement from the administration, from congressional leaders on both sides of the political aisle, and in both houses of the United States congress. Evenm hopeful, optimistic, that we can find the Common Ground necessary to achieve meaningful reform. But we will need to do more for this country. Us,r. King reminds sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust on its application. That a law that seemed to hold such promise at one time can be eroded to the point where it becomes unjust. To that end, i would respectfully submit that we review the Voting Rights act make sure that easy access to the ballot box is a reality, especially in the midst of the healthcare crisis. We should examine existing laws and practices and education, to make sure everyone has equal access to a quality education. We should examine existing laws to ensure that everyone has equal Economic Opportunities including protections from employment discrimination, to should add, with the Historic Supreme Court decision yesterday, that i applaud even though some in this body may not, we should immediately bring the quality act to the floor of the senate and affirm our commitment to ending discrimination in the workplace in any form, against any individual. We should examine existing laws that continue to deny quality, Affordable Health care to poor and lowincome households, including giving states like necessarye incentives to expand medicaid, to get federal dollars to help lift those individuals who not only struggled before this pandemic, but have lost their health care during this pandemic. Theeed to examine laws like fair housing act, signed only a week after dr. Kings assassination. In order to assure that that act fulfills the promise on which it was reacted. We spend billions of dollars each year to perpetuate housing that keeps people without means, especially black families, dropped in places where it is difficult to access education, healthy food, and Economic Opportunities. Unfortunately, all signs are pointing to a worsening housing crisis because of the pandemic. , as a congress, we cannot let this moment pass. But by saying that, i mean more than just passing reforms. Surely, reforms are needed but the greater need is not just to reform, what to transform, to make dramatic change in the nation and character of our institutions and our culture, toward a more just government and society. To that end, as we focus on heating dr. Kings call to action written in 1963, we should remember his words written just three years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and two years after the passage of the Voting Rights act. 1967, final book, where do we go from here, chaos or community . Hasking wrote that america been sincere and even ardent in welcoming some change, but too quickly, apathy and disinterest rise to the surface when the next logical steps are to be taken. Passed in a crisis mood after birmingham or selma, but no substantial fervor survives the formal signing of legislation. The recording of the law in its self is treated at the rhea that treated as the reality of reform the recording of the law itself is treated as the reality of reform. But significantly for those of you who have suffered long for equality and opportunity, keep this moment alive. Crisis alive beyond the mood we find ourselves in today, by continuing to engage those who have more recently seen your plight through new eyes. Meetd that we not just this moment with more division, intolerance and anger at one another that pulls us farther apart and deeper into chaos, where we have failed to heal. That cannot be americas future. Simply become as dr. Not king warned, simply a moment for another conversation that makes it sound like something is changing, but it never does. The path from the first slave ship to land on these shores, to the long, barren jail cell in birmingham, alabama where dr. King wrote his letter we read today, to the death of george floyd and Breonna Taylor and rayshard brooks, the path is a long one. Too long. It is a path of a multigenerational failure to be the america of our ideals, where the civil war is actually over and we are truly one nation, with liberty and justice for all. I will tell you that, as a son of the south, the deep south, that we should not lose this moment. We in the south have been at the center of this divide for too be at thewe can center of healing it and leading the nation to a more just society. Inception,ountrys we have set the words all are created equal. The words, all are created equal. We have pledged to be a nation of justice for all, not some come all. But we know that we have never lived up to that ideal. We all know it. In response to many of the protests taking place across this country today, where voices and tshirts and face masks matter, black lives some insist on saying that all lives matter, and of course they do. Countryill not be a where we are all truly equal, and where justice is for all, until we can all say the word, say thees matter words, black lives matter, and mean it. Can all say the words, black lives matter, and mean it. Can all seek justice and opportunity for all. The road for Racial Justice in america has taken far too long, but it is a path we must walk together if we are to reach the mountaintop. Me. Y colleagues, i say join and others to the people i say join me and others. To the people of alabama and the nation, i say join together. It is time, america. It is time. Thank you, mr. President. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] mr. President , today is the second time in the last two had to come together with a Bipartisan Group of senators to read dr. Kings letter from the birmingham jail. I think the senator from alabama for his leadership bringing this group together. I had read that letter many times. But i had never read it out loud. I had never heard the words spoken, much less heard them spoken in this historic chamber. Today is a time every american should listen to those words. Today is a time every american should look back at the incredible call to justice dr. King gave us. A time when our nation is grieving. This is a time where there is anger, division, rage. This is a time where our country in avided on racial lines way it hasnt been in a long, long time. When we need time to hear a call to unity, a call to unity and a call to justice. Dr. Kings call was powerful for both, for unity and for justice, and i would like to make three observations about this historic letter. Is, this was a letter from a pastor written to pastors. As dr. R to dr. King king, and it is easy to forget he was also reverend king. He was a christian minister who preached the gospel. The very first words of this felloware, my dear clergymen. That is to who this was addressed, to the leaders in the herch, where we at where had a message of get off your nds, and stand justice. If you are a person of faith, justice, defeating racial discrimination, defeating matter ofs not just a truth, it is a matter of morality. Here is what dr. King said about it in the opening paragraphs of the letter. I am in birmingham because injustice is here. And understanding how this was a call to Church Leaders, just as the prophets in the eighth century left their village to carry the message, just as the apostle paul left his village of tarsus and. And carry the gospel of jesus christ to the far corners of the grecoroman world, so i am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my hometown. Our nation is grieving, is in anger, is in anguish, is in division, reverend kings message to Church Leaders to stand up for justice, to stand up for truth, that message resonates clear as a bell today. Dr. King,bservation, in this letter and throughout his ministry, throughout his public leadership, called over and over and over again to voicesviolence, against of those who agreed with him against the justice he was calling out, where he said, violence is not the way. Rioting in our cities, seen Small Businesses burned, seen Police Officers and violentand murdered in and angry protests and riots, the words of dr. King calling out to resist violence and speak to justice, those words should be heard by all of us. In a third observation, calling for justice, dr. King appealed to our founding principles. There are some, particularly young people today, who are angry, who are being peddled a bill of goods, ally that fundamentally i live in america is fundamentally unjust, that it is an evil society built upon racism. That is simply not true. Is there evil in the world . Is there racism . Yes. Is there oppression in the world . Yes. Is all that president is all that present in the United States . Yes. But dr. King in this letter did not endeavor to tear down the foundations of this nation. Instead, he made an expected made an explicit appeal that the promises this nation was founded on, the promises of freedom, the promises of equality, we have not yet fully achieved that, but we can. That is the beauty of this american experiment. We are a nation founded on the proposition on founded on the proposition that all men are created equal. Even though our history has been troubled in achieving that objective. Colleagues,y republicans and democrats, who came together today to beat this letter. We need to hear this words. These words. We need to hear this message. We need to stand for justice, and stand for unity. I yield the floor. Journal,s washington every day. We are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and will discuss policy issues that impact you. Morning, author and 60 minutes correspondent John Dickerson discusses his new book, the hardest job in the world the american presidency. A pulitzer prizewinning reporter and author, life in korea 19501953. He discusses the anniversary of the korean war. Wash watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern sunday morning and joined with their phone calls, facebook comments, Text Messages and tweets. President trump spoke to reporters today before departing the white house for his Campaign Rally in also, oklahoma. Here are his remarks. President trump we had a good decision in the john bolton book case, and the judge was very