Helppp!! Read the following
passage and answer the questions that follow.
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins. marches and so forth? Isn't
negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed. this is
the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis
and foster such a tension that a community which
has constantly refused to negotiate
is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer
be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent
resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the
word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of
constructive. nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. lust as Socrates felt
that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise
from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative
analysis and obiective appraisal. so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to
create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of
preiudice and racism to the maiestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The
purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it
will inevitably open the door to negotiation.

Question: What is King's main purpose in this passage?

a. To create tension.

b. To explain the purpose of the direct action program

c. To align his program with Socrates.