You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.

I believe that these two paragraphs perfectly describe Dr. King's genous. I sincerely believe that he was right to describe himself as the moderate faction of two parties. One, the "conformists", that were so battered with segregation and injustices that they did not have, or lost any will and hope of equality and freedom. On the other extreme were the militant groups that advocated violence. I believe the stage was set for an immenent violent uprising of African Americans. Dr. King was able to motivate the Conformists and transfer violent aggressions of the militant groups into a relatively peaceful synthesis of progress without bloodloss. We need look no farther than the Middle East and Europe to see the destructive nature of humanity when the oppressed take to arms against oppressors, whether it be based on skin color, ethnicity, or religion. I truly believe that Dr. King in many ways saved an exponential amount of lives for both White and African Americans.

I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger-lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation.

It may seem rather small, but my grandfather was the first salesman to sell Home-Owners insurance to African Americans in Miami. He never participated in any march or spoke out in any way, but just the act of him taking that small step was ground gained in the struggle for equality. Many, many years later before his death my grandfather was telling me this story and chuckled when I asked him if he meant it as a stance against racism. "I never was much into politics, and I can't say I was some champion for the African community. It just occured to me that they had as much a right as anyone else to be able to protect there belongings". I think that pretty much somes up the whole movement in that white people began to recognize them as equals and productive members of society. While Martin Luther King was definitely a hero, I believe there were lots of other hero's on a smaller scale.

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