English Essay on Racism in America: Insights from Martin Luther King Jr. and James Baldwin

This essay discusses the issue of racism in America and the insights of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Baldwin on the issue. It reflects on the present situation of racism in the United States and how it has changed over time. The essay also highlights the role of religion in the fight against racism.

Running head: ENGLISH ESSAY
ENGLISH ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

1ENGLISH ESSAY
The time when the letter was written was that of a deep divide in the social order in
the western world. The “whites” were “superior” and the “blacks” were not a very “civilised
class”, that was the general notion. It was a tough fight for an African origin person to
survive in the Western world. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most prominent faces of
the movement carried out by the African origin community in order to assert their rights in
the society. The state system was also not very favourable to the demand of justice of the
“black”, at one hand the homes of the “blacks” were bombed, they were attacked, physically
harmed, or abused, and when they wanted justice, the police system, used to jail them on the
charges that their protests are illegal and that they are disturbing the orderliness of the
society. Actually often in order to retaliate to the attacks there have been violent attacks from
the side of the “blacks” as well. It was a difficult fight as both the state and the non-state
actors were against the African origin people.
The letter is written by Martin Luther King Jr., who was a pioneering leader in the
internal resistance of the people of African origin against the racial bias in America, and this
was often a cause of non-violent social movements to very violent guerrilla warfare. The
letter is written to the religious leaders who had shown certain discomforts towards the way
the “blacks” had been carrying on their movement. The question that the letter raises is how
far a particular section of the society can remain neutral in the face of continuous prejudice.
Martin Luther King writes “They will be young high school and college students,
young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders courageously and nonviolently sitting
in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience's sake. One day the South will
know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in
reality standing up for the best in the American dream and the most sacred values in our
Judeo-Christian heritage.” (Snow). This was what Martin Luther King replied to the religious

2ENGLISH ESSAY
leaders showing their discontent against the protest of the coloured people. Presently situation
has improved and in religious lines there is lesser racial discrimination than before.
James Arthur Baldwin was an Author, critic, and social reformer based in America.
The various aspects of racial discrimination, class discrimination and other forms of divide
were addressed by him. His father expected him to be a preacher but he ultimately left the
church on the grounds that the ministry had racial over tones. Baldwin is quoted as saying “If
the concept of God has any use, it is to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God can't do
that, it's time we got rid of him." In the letter to his nephew Baldwin states “Now, my dear
namesake, these innocent and well-meaning people, your countrymen, have caused you to be
born under conditions not far removed from those described for us by Charles Dickens in the
London of more than a hundred years ago.” (Baldwin). Therefore it is evident that the
discrimination that was prevalent in the society hundred years before Baldwin still existed at
his time. “I am writing this letter to you to try to tell you something about how to handle
them, for most of them do not yet really know that you exist”. Therefore he states that how
difficult is to “handle” the situation where such discrimination prevails in the society. “You
were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black
and for no other reason. The limits to your ambition were thus expected to be settled… You
were not expected to aspire to excellence. You were expected to make peace with
mediocrity.” The colour of the skin of a person decides what will be the destination of the
person in the United States and their destiny. The “superior” whites will decide the fate of the
“blacks” and thus terms will be dictated.
The New York Times in a published letter titled “Confronting Racism in America”,
quotes actor Sidney Poitier saying that after coming to United states he started facing the
brunt of racism. The present situation of America is not good either. The letters reflected how
racism has been affect6ing the United States years ago. However in the present situation after

3ENGLISH ESSAY
the elections and change of the charge there has been a trend of increase of racism in the
states. However it is not that racism is new and was not there in the previous regime. The
racial incidents at the United States have been widely reported by the media in recent times.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of the United States situated in THE Alabama
district has recorded average of 87 hate incidents a day during the ten-day period after recent
elections. There have been online posts and racial slurs on the digital media as well. Hence it
can be said that the way racism has been historically recorded in the previous times have
changed lately (Fredrickson). The religious racism has also reduced to a large extent.
However it cannot be said that the incidents of racism has gone down altogether. Historically
the way racism was projected and handled have been replaced by a different way of racist
behaviour altogether.
The letter by Martin Luther King Jr. shows his own insights about religion and how
much dedicated he himself is in matters of theology. However he states with grief “In spite
of my shattered dreams of the past, 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 concern serve as the channel through which our just grievances could get to the power
structure. I had hoped 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 hear white ministers
say, follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother. In
the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand
on the side-lines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities.” The
church should have had equal viewpoint about all class creed and colour, however it was sad
to see that even from the religious leadership there was distinction made.

4ENGLISH ESSAY
Martin Luther King Jr held on to his religious views, however Baldwin had left the
church on becoming disillusioned about the various promises it made and he had an idea that
the Church was also a system to re-establish the early slave system in another format, with a
promise of heaven after life.
The understanding of whether the narrative of racism has changed with days since the
letter was written, it can be said that the methods of racism and way it is executed may have
changed with time, but the overall practice of racism is still prevalent. The present
government needs to act and take actions which will help in social transformation of the
country.

5ENGLISH ESSAY
Reference and Bibliography:
Acuña, Rodolfo. "Occupied America." The Latino/a Condition: A Critical Reader, (2015):
61-4.
Araújo, Marta, and Silvia R. Maeso. Eurocentrism, racism and knowledge: debates on history
and power in Europe and the Americas. Springer, (2015).
Baldwin, James. "A letter to my nephew." The Progressive 1 (1962).
Davies, Thom. "Clean and white: a history of environmental racism in the United States."
(2017): 1360-1362.
Fredrickson, George M. Racism: A short history. Princeton University Press, (2015).
Snow, Malinda. "Martin Luther King's “Letter from Birmingham jail” as Pauline epistle."
Quarterly Journal of Speech 71.3 (1985): 318-334.