What other seminal document does King refer to in this paragraph? Which of King’s three reasons for being in Birmingham is supported by this distinction between just and unjust laws?


You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to

break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so

diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954

outlawing segregation in the public schools,[6] at first glance it may

seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may

well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying

others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws:

just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws.

One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just

laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust

laws. I would agree with St. Augustine[7] that “an unjust law is no law

at all.”