I literally put the whole quote in context for you bub.
You literally tried to lean on one phrase shorn of even it's entire sentence which described riots as the voice of the unheard.
He was saying that even though he does not condone rioting, he was clear about not dismissing them
Here's what he was saying:
......It is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met.... Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I’m still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create more social problems than they will solve. That in a real sense it is impracticable for the Negro to even think of mounting a violent revolution in the United States. So I will continue to condemn riots, and continue to say to my brothers and sisters that this is not the way. And continue to affirm that there is another way.
And I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non*violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view. I’m absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt....
The panthers and malcolm x were essential parts of the struggle.
Yeah. The self-destructive parts that gave rise to a backlash.
Because MLK was
correct about the
self-
destruction and correct about the
backlash:
......Critically, in the case of the 1960s black freedom struggle, these results suggest that nothing in the contest between the more egalitarian and order-maintenance political coalitions was inevitable. These findings suggest that the “transformative egalitarian” coalition . . . was fragile but, in the absence of violent protests, would likely have won the presidential election of 1968. In this counterfactual scenario, the United States would have elected Hubert Humphrey, lead author of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, rather than Richard Nixon. In the absence of white antipathy to black uprisings, the “law and order” coalition would not have carried the day and, possibly, not developed a durable campaigning and governing strategy for the next half century...
The violence associated with the later stages of the civil rights movement burned through public support for it, and turned middle America from asking whether or not our society should be fairer to asking how we can most effectively suppress our violent elements.
George Floyd's family are right, and you are wrong.
Barack Obama is right, and you are wrong.
And Martin Luther King Jr was right, and you are wrong.
The japanese were not interned for their safety nor because of anything they did.
The Japanese empire attacked the American navy in port and threatened American soil and so we burned their islands into ash, smashing them so thoroughly that even the
atom bombs were not the most destruction we wrecked on them. Had the atom bombs not worked (and they only barely did), the plan was to invade the home islands in a campaign that would have come close to effectively ending the Japanese people. We can respond well to appeals. We don't respond well to threats.
we are seeing today because people balked at the peaceful method.
Interesting. So, if peaceful protest doesn't get you what you want, you are justified in turning to violence? Asking for a Pro-Life movement.
. When people are crushed down by the system, they dont simply sit and die its either reform or revolt to secure their rights.
