<P> Against the clergymen's assertion that demonstrations could be illegal, King argued that not only was civil disobedience justified in the face of unjust laws, but it was necessary and even patriotic . "I submit that an individual who breaks a 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 ." King stated that an unjust law was a law that degraded a human personality . Citing Augustine of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Buber, and Paul Tillich--and examples from the past and present--King described what makes laws just or unjust . For example, "A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law ." In terms of obedience to the law, King stated that citizens have "not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws," and at the same time "to disobey unjust laws ." King stated that it is not morally wrong to disobey a law that pertains to one group of people differently than another . Alabama has used "all sorts of devious methods" to deny its black citizens their right to vote and thus preserve its unjust laws and broader system of white supremacy . Segregation laws are immoral and 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 ." Even some just laws, such as permit requirements for public marches, are unjust when used to uphold an unjust system . </P> <P> King addressed the accusation that the Civil Rights Movement was "extreme", first disputing the label but then accepting it . Compared to other movements at the time, King finds himself as a moderate . However, in his devotion to his cause, King refers to himself as an extremist . Jesus and other great reformers were extremists: "So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be . Will we be extremists for hate or for love?" King's discussion of extremism implicitly responded to numerous "moderate" objections to the ongoing movement, such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower's claim that he could not meet with civil rights leaders because doing so would require him to meet with the Ku Klux Klan . </P> <P> King expressed general frustration with both white moderates and certain "opposing forces in the Negro community ." He wrote that white moderates, including clergymen, posed a challenge comparable to that of white supremacists, in the sense that, "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 ." King asserted that the white church needed to take a principled stand or risk being "dismissed as an irrelevant social club ." Regarding the black community, King wrote that we need not follow "the' do - nothingism' of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist ." </P> <P> In closing the letter, King criticized the clergy's praise of the Birmingham police for maintaining order nonviolently . Recent public displays of nonviolence by the police were in stark contrast to their typical treatment of black people, and, as public relations, helped "to preserve the evil system of segregation ." Not only is it wrong to use immoral means to achieve moral ends, but also "to use moral means to preserve immoral ends ." Instead of the police, King praised the nonviolent demonstrators in Birmingham, "for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation . One day the South will recognize its real heroes ." </P>

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