King in Watts

To my humble readers,
After two men were pulled over and abused by police officers in Los Angeles, it caused riots from many African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. found out about these riots, and decided that although many people were worried about racial segregation in the south, maybe they needed to pay more attention to the North as well. I think King was making a wise decision by coming North and preaching his belief of nonviolence to the rioters. If he had not, I believe their would have been many more casualties and more damage done. King tried explaining that he was brothers with Islamic leader Elijah Muhammad, since they both share the views of nonviolence. I also noticed that King did not receive much respect from the audience at the beginning of his speech, with one bystander even saying, "Get out of here Dr. King." However, as he went on he kept winning over the crowd with his words, inspiring people and letting them know that violence will not solve anything. The fact that he was able to do this is important because it proved to everyone what an influential and respected representative he was for African American's freedom. Therefore, I think it was essential for King to spread his message of nonviolence because it kept people from becoming out of control. He was able to remind people that nonviolence accomplishes more than violence and riots. I believe his speech led to a decrease in riots and helped African Americans be more open to marches rather than violence.