Dr. King was most known for his non violent approach into resolving injustice in America for his people. He held to this view all the way up until his assassination in 1968.
However, during the latter part of his years, his views and philosophy and they way he viewed this country began to shift. Even his views on riots.
Urban riots must now be recognized as durable social phenomena,” King suggested during his “Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement” dissertation at the American Psychology Associations’ annual convention in Washington, D.C, on Sept. 1, 1967. “They may be deplored, but they are there and should be understood. Urban riots are a special form of violence. They are not insurrections. The rioters are not seeking to seize territory or to attain control of institutions. They are mainly intended to shock the [Caucasian] community. They are a distorted form of social protest. The looting, which is their principal feature, serves many functions.”
He added, “Let us say boldly that if the violations of law by the [Caucasian] man in the slums over the years were calculated and compared with the law-breaking of a few days of riots, the hardened criminal would be the [Caucasian] man. These are often difficult things to say, but I have come to see more and more that it is necessary to utter the truth in order to deal with the great problems that we face in our society.”
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