"Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured."[0]

Whimsy is not what I advocated. If that's how it came across perhaps I chose my words imperfectly. I'm trying to figure out secular, modern ways of building community. MLK used the power of religion to build and sustain his movement. And to pretend that it didn't successfully create change is historical revisionism.

0. Letter from Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham....

You'll find Dr. King's approach was a heck of a lot more than "trying to raise awareness", or "building communities".

I do not think it is just an odd coincidence that most people have forgotten the economic, political, and social militancy that came with the Civil Rights movement in favor of a disney-ified[0] version where mere marches, willpower, and belief in a certain set of principles caused widespread change.

[0] http://inthesetimes.com/article/14524/santa_clausifying_mart...

I have not gone to any kind of leadership / political organization training. Just flying by the seat of my pants; running on faith, awareness and just a little bit of rage. If you have any recommendations, please share :)

I'm very much aware that MLK had a larger vision for shared economic prosperity, a vision for "a beloved community," that is very much sanitized by the mainstream narrative. The article you posted doesn't really do service to telling the actual message. I recommend this On Being interview where Vincent Harding [0] gives an overview.

0. http://www.onbeing.org/program/vincent-harding-is-america-po...

Except this time the tension is between nature and human. The activists do not necessarily bring that tension more to the surface than muddling it with societal tensions.