A Time to Think Strange Thoughts and Pray Long Prayers | The Village Gate

Dr. King’s long prayers were not immediately answered upon his release from the Birmingham jail. His efforts to end segregation in Alabama and across the south sometimes sputtered frustratingly and sometimes surged gloriously for the remaining five years of his life, but historical perspective allows us to see that the intense self-examination he underwent during those ten days eventually bore abundant fruit that fundamentally changed our nation. If we use our crushing 2004 disappointment as motivation toward achieving a better understanding of our movement and those whom it seeks to serve, these past days can serve as a starting point toward restoring and revitalizing progressive populism.