(全段翻译) 你们很可能这样问：“为什么直接行动？为什么要主动坐监抗议、游行等等？难道谈判不是更好的途径？”你们呼吁谈判十分正确。实际上，这就是直接行动的真正目的。非暴力行动寻求的就是在总是拒绝谈判的地方制造危机和紧张气氛，以迫使这个地方来面对问题。非暴力行动就是要把问题戏剧化，使之再也不受到忽略。我关于制造紧张气氛是非暴力抵抗工作的一部分的说法可能听上去让人吃惊，但我必须坦白地说，我不害怕“紧张”这个词。我由衷地反对暴力紧张，但是建设性的、非暴力的紧张是社会成长必需的。......我们必须看到，我们需要那些挥之不去的非暴力行动来制造社会的紧张自费，这样能够帮助人们走出偏见和种族主义的黑暗，走向理解和团结的神圣的高度。

直接行动计划的目的就是要制造充满危机的形势，以使谈判的大门再也无法关闭。因此，我同意你们对谈判的呼吁。我们可爱的南方陷入悲惨的泥沼已经太久，人们活在一言堂之下，而不是对话之下。（选自马丁路德金《发自伯明翰市立监狱的一封信》)(The whole paragraph tanslated here.)

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. ...we 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 prejudice and racism to the majestic 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. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue. (From Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16th, 1963)

sit-ins [室内静坐抗议]，这里指的是主动坐到监狱里去

foster [培养]

confront [面对；对抗]

dramatize [激化；使戏剧化]

cite [看法；说法]

gadfly [挥之不去]

prejudice [偏见]

racism [种族主义]

majestic heights [神圣的高度]

inevitably [不可避免地]

concur [意见相同]

be bogged down [被陷入泥沼]

monologue [一言堂]

dialogue [对话]

（ 陈森森 sensenchen2002@yahoo.com ）