Letter from Birmingham Jail Critical Thinking Questions

King anticipates that the clergymen might wonder whether continued negotiations would be a better tactic than “sit-ins, marches, and so forth.” Dr. King answers the rhetorical question by insisting that negotiation is the best tactic, and that “non-violent direct action” is designed explicitly to force negotiation. However, the means of such direct action is to create “crisis” and “tension” so that negotiations become necessary (172).