This extract is from ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’, an open letter written by Dr King on 16 April 1963 as a response to criticisms by clergymen calling for unity and condemning King’s involvement in direct action. The call for unity was based on the notion that racial injustices were best fought through legal means, in court rather than in the streets. That is to say, through civility and respectable means. King’s response, which became central to the civil rights struggle, defended his position on both religious and moral grounds. He stood by his actions and saw direct action as a legitimate means of achieving justice when diplomacy and dialogue fail, and when justice is not available through other means. The debate around which methods of protest for racial injustice may best suit white society and which timing will accord with its timetable is evergreen. The disapproval of black liberation methods is too often simply the disapproval of black liberation. This message from King at the height of the civil rights movement acts as a powerful reminder that white comfort has always been a significant blocker to justice and equality.

Today, this same preoccupation with (dis)order and ‘negative peace’ can be seen in the way Black Lives Matter protests and anti-racism actions such as ‘taking the knee’ continue to be ridiculed, maligned and fiercely opposed in the press and within most political parties. Hostility and opposition towards Black Lives Matter protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd have been widespread and explicitly expressed by those in high office.