One can reasonably argue today about various situations of real or perceived instances of racial discrimination and any appropriate remedies, but in the 1950's and 1960's there was absolutely no denying that very real and brutal racism and various forms of racial discrimination existed - and were widespread in this country - and there was an urgent need that they be addressed and corrected.

Now what kind of society would we have today in America if MLK and his followers had responded to the 'whites-only' lunch counters, movie theaters, public buses, and black voter intimidation, and many other outrageous forms of racial discrimination not with nonviolent demonstration but rather with...bombs and bullets??

Thank God Martin Luther King was wise enough to realize two things:

1) nonviolent methods would work in a free, democratic society, in which many white folks may have been a bit ignorant about certain things but were not evil people. They weren't mortal enemies but rather good, decent people who just needed their eyes opened a little.

2) in the end America would become an even better country, and much truer to her values of freedom and equality