Subjects:
In both Martin Luther King, JR’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Nelson Mandela’s “I Am Prepared to Die”, the authors present their idealistic views of racial equality and their ideas of how that equality should be achieved. In his letter, King states, “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere” (224). With these statements, King concentrates on the injustice around him and how that prejudice affects King and his people everywhere. He chooses to peacefully strive to achieve the goal of a socially and racially equal society. In his statement in the Pretoria Supreme Court, Mandela says,
I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. (267)
Here Mandela states that he has, as does King, an idealistic notion of a racially equal society, but that he
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, Nelson Mandela’s speech illustrates his use of violent activism to achieve his ideal of equal opportunities for all members of society. He stresses this need for nonviolence and his opposition of anything else:
I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. He states, “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure” (226). Both writers express a compassion for creating a peaceful environment; both writers speak of fighting for their cause but with different types of action. Upon examination of King and Mandela’s works, this comparative analysis suggests that a common goal, racial equality, can be obtained (theoretically) using either passive or aggressive means. King concentrates on the goal of achieving a racially harmonious society by implementing equally harmonious measures because he believes that all forms of violence are utterly immoral. He may not have initially planned on a violently forceful barrage:
I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I have any love of violence. Unlike King, Mandela does not keep a steadfast focus on nonviolence, but rather often resorts to violence to achieve his goals.
Martin Luther King, JR spent his days of activism engaging in a peaceful battle with the white supremacists of his time: a method which he deemed satisfactory and necessary to achieve his ideal. Mandela “felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy” (249). King reflects on the problem and the peaceful methods he uses to fix it, while Mandela stresses that he will use whatever means necessary, including violent ones, to fix it.
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