Was it divine intervention or just the actual fact of being proper that makes the notorious “Letter from Birmingham Jail” timeless, profound and even life-changing for some readers? In case you haven’t met Dwayne Betts in an earlier EconTalk episode, prepare for Russ Roberts’s phenomenal pal and visitor. Betts is so current within the second and affected by the sweetness, fact, and humility of the good Martin Luther King that his voice typically cracks answering Roberts’s questions. On this episode, he shares moments from his personal historical past and the impact King’s work has had on him.
Betts’s 9 years in jail and noteworthy journey since uniquely qualify him because the King household’s alternative writer for the introduction to Letter from Birmingham Jail (The Important Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King). We hope this dialog stirs ideas about freedom in you. Please share a thought or perception within the feedback beneath.
1- Each Roberts and Betts have appreciated King’s nice speech in numerous methods upon revisiting it. Roberts calls it a love letter to justice in his (King’s) nation. As you pause and skim “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr., what do you discover that maybe you didn’t keep in mind?
2- How does Betts argue that King’s pressing letter, a response to criticism of his nonviolent protesting, honored the eight clergy critics?
3- Betts states, “I feel like it’s much more challenging to name what the side of justice looks like,” referring to the issue of arguing with conviction on up to date matters. To what extent do you agree with this assertion and, with what examples would you clarify?
4- “Turning regrets into feathers” versus “Economics explains everything except justice”. John Rawls (not Robert Nozick) is in The Freedom Library in 340 prisons. Confronting the sense of “nobodiness,” which dialog strand would you wish to pursue over dinner, and why?
