King was very clear in his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" that those that chose civil disobedience as a means of changing "unjust" laws should be willing to pay the penalty for their unlawful action, that's why he was writing from jail.
MLK did not advocate violent overthrow of the government...and one can't defend what was going on in the area of discrimination of blacks in this country. He used an effective method to get the attention of the nation.
BTW, the 17th is also my husband's birthday.
Thank you very much for your insights, and Happy Birthday to Mr. Dawn :-)