Letter from a Birmingham Jail

In the "Letter from a Birmingham jail" from Martin Luther King Jr and "The Insufficiency of Honesty" from Stephen Carter, the word Integrity is being talked about between King and Cater essays. Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching; it is a goal that is used to make decisions that rely on truth and honesty. In Carters essay he states " integrity is discerning what is right and what is wrong, and saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of your right and wrong (319)." When Carter refers to the term integrity, he does not only mean honesty. He also writes that honesty is not lying.Carter stresses that the exercise of integrity is not as simple, and that some ppeople with integrity may be trusted. In King essay integrity to him as of carter was he had vision of the truth and willing to admit when you are wrong. King makes his point in his essay about integrity, about some leading clergyman who while claiming that they agreed with the substance of king view on race laughed at kings protest movement against segregation in Alabama as unwise and untimely. King believes his moderate critics where lacking integrity because while they said they wanted integration, they would encourage it to such extent so it was already legal. When thing went bad, when the view and what they said they believed were inconsistent, they went with the law. King states inhis letter tht just because something is legal is not any reason to think it is right thing to do, and just because something is illegal does not mean it is wrong.

Carter uses an excellent example in the essay, concerning a man confessing to his wife on his deathbed of an affair he had while married, with that example integrity means you are aware of the general populations ideas of what is right and wrong, and the man on his death knew what he was doing to his wife was wrong. As on kings essay, he know what the citizens were doing, and what was being done to the African Americans was wrong. Not being treated equal was affecting his life as was to all the African Americans because they were not being treated like the white Americans where. The non African American people where so cruel to them because the law allowed it even though it was not right.

Carter also thinks that even though Americans do not always act with integrity, they sense that there is not enough of it and want more of it. For king Integrity has a large effect on what one think, say, and do. It is because of King's thoughts and actions so many people put their trust and faith in him. King believed that America, the most powerful and richest nation in the world, would lead the way to a revolution of the mind. This revolution will change the way society views itself, shifting from a materialistic society to a spiritual society. When this occurs, King believed that racism could be conquered.