King's philosophy of civil disobedience was one of the most sophisticated in the tradition — deeply rooted in Christian theology, Gandhian technique, and an unflinching analysis of American racial capitalism that many of his later admirers prefer not to examine. His Letter from Birmingham Jail is among the most precise accounts ever written of what makes a law unjust and what gives the citizen the right to break it: the degradation of persons, the enforcement of injustice by those with a stake in its continuation, and the collaboration of the moderate who prefers order to justice. The King who is celebrated is often a comfortable version; the examined King is more demanding.
Each step builds on the last.