Letter to birmingham jail
[7] i had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and that when they fail to do this they become dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress … we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. we merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. we bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with. like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must likewise be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
[8] we must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
[9] i have travelled the length and breadth of alabama, mississippi and all the other southern states. on sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings i have looked at her beautiful churches with their spires pointing heavenward. i have beheld the impressive outlay of her massive religious education buildings. over and over again i have found myself asking: "who worships here? who is their god? where were their voices when the lips of governor barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? where were their voices of support when tired, bruised, and weary negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest? "
[10] there was a time when the church was very powerful … in those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. wherever the early christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." things are different now. the contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. it is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.
in 3-5 complete sentences, thoroughly explain how dr. king develops the claim that racial injustices must be uncovered to be healed (in paragraphs 7-8). which sentences support the claim? provide at least two specific examples from the text to show how the claim is developed and supported.
in 3-5 complete sentences, thoroughly explain what effect the order of ideas in paragraphs 9 and 10 have on the meaning of the text. why does dr. king make his points in this order? what is the effect? provide at least two specific examples from the text to support your answer.