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Tom London
@TomLondon6
, 4 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
Martin Luther King:
"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice;...
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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";...
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who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."...
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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."
- Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 16 April 1963

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More from @TomLondon6 see all

Profile picture
Tom London
@TomLondon6
SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 WH Auden

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
...
Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return. 2/?
Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.
Read 9 tweets
Profile picture
Tom London
@TomLondon6
Thread
WHAT HAPPENS
It has happened
and it goes on happening
and will happen again
if nothing happens to stop it

The innocent know nothing
because they are too innocent
and the guilty know nothing
because they are too guilty

The poor do not notice
because they are too poor 1/2
2/3
 & the rich do not notice
because they are too rich

The stupid shrug their shoulders
because they are too stupid
& the clever shrug their shoulders
because they are too clever

The young do not care
because they are too young
and the old do not care
because they are too old
3/3
This is why nothing happens
to stop it
and that is why it has happened
and goes on happening and will happen again.

- Erich Fried (translated from the German)
Read 3 tweets
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Tom London
@TomLondon6
GOD SAVE GREAT THOMAS PAINE by Joseph Mather, 1790s

God save great Thomas Paine,
His ‘Rights of Man’ explain
To every soul.
He makes the blind to see
What dupes and slaves they be,
And points out liberty,
From pole to pole.

1 0f 6
Thousands cry ‘Church and King’
That well deserve to swing,
All must allow:
Birmingham blush for shame,
Manchester do the same,
Infamous is your name,
Patriots vow.

2 0f 6
Pull proud oppressors down,
Knock off each tyrant's crown,
And break his sword;
Down aristocracy,
Set up democracy,
And from hyprocrisy
Save us good Lord.

3 0f 6
Read 6 tweets

Related threads

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The King Center
@TheKingCenter
"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler...”
“...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 can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom...”
Read 5 tweets
Profile picture
ScienceVet
@ScienceVet2
"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."

africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/L…
"...the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler 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"; ..."
Read 20 tweets
Profile picture
Bree Newsome
@BreeNewsome
MLK on white moderates who are more bothered by social disruption than injustice:

"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate..." 1/
"...I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice;" 2/
"...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 can't agree with your methods of direct action;'" 3/
Read 4 tweets
Profile picture
Cátia Freitas
@Mocha_Soul
Naturally not the lib fem position. As ever, beware of "moderates". They tend to let reactionaries get away with worse than what radicals are fighting at any given time.
"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 Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler...
... 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...
Read 9 tweets
Profile picture
JenHatmaker
@JenHatmaker
"Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light & voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals." #MLK
"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." #MLK #BirminghamJail
"For years 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.” #MLK #BirminghamJail
Read 20 tweets

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