The Other Birmingham
David Watt has recently been commenting in the Spectator on the colour problem in Birming- ham, and on the attitudes of political candidates to it. We should count our blessings. There is another Birmingham. The suffering and the heroism of the Negroes of Birmingham, Alabama, in April 1963 is brilliantly re-created by Dr.
Martin Luther King, who has been this week on a short visit to England with his companion in protest and in prison, the Rev. Ralph Aber- nathy. Dr. King's book Why We Can't Wait is published at 5s. by the New English Library. Everyone who tries to understand the problems of the Negro people in America will want to read it. In it for the first time is given the full text of Dr. King's reply from prison in Bir- mingham to those church leaders who criticised the demonstrations he led. It is also made clear how close are the links between the American struggle and the great movements towards free- dom all over the world. In his letter from prison
• Dr. King writes: 'The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed, toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.' The atmosphere of Bull Connor's Birmingham is drawn with a clinical detachment which adds to the chill of revulsion as the story of the brutalities unfolds. There are no Bull Connors in Birmingham, England, but there are still people who see free men as a threat to them. They, too, should read this book.
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