This missive was Dr. King’s response to public statements of concern, caution and withering, unrelenting criticism of his leadership of nonviolent protests against racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama and throughout the South. That critique and criticism had been issued by all of the white major mass media mavens of the day, and particularly and specifically by eight prominent white (“liberal”) religious leaders of the South. As he notes in his “Letter,” Dr.King had not just “hoped” but expected that white clergy — especially — would side with him, if for no other reason than the obvious, absolute and undeniable righteousness of his “cause.”