Why We Can't Wait
by Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson
- really interesting context for "why 1963?"
- captivating, fast-paced but strategically detailed account of the planning, execution, and (mixed) outcomes of the Birmingham campaign
- there are three necessary parties for NVCD: the unbowed victim, the attacker, and the witness without visibility you have nothing.
- the letter from the Birmingham jail is one of the most quotable pieces of writing ever. incandescent. it comes appropriately as the very center and heart of this book.
- most of the latter chapters (outcomes of Birmingham and legislative prospects) could have been written yesterday (2018), instead of 55 years ago. Jesse Jackson's afterword, written in 2000, is a transmission from another, impossibly naive, planet.
why we can't wait inspires; it takes the movement from something superhuman to "go on, get moving!". it's realistic and optimistic and full of soaring words about morality and extremely practical.