Iam mindful that only yesterday in birmingham, alabama,
our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered
with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. i am mindful
that only yesterday in philadelphia, mississippi, young
people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized
and murdered. and only yesterday more than 40 houses of
worship in the state of mississippi alone were bombed or
burned because they offered a sanctuary to those who
would not accept segregation. i am mindful that
debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and
chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.
-- martin luther king jr., nobel prize acceptance speech,
1964
why does king begin his nobel prize acceptance speech with examples of
recent racial violence in the united states?