There are many different ways human beings deal with oppression. In his book, Stride Toward Freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. expresses how people handle oppression in three characteristic ways. Acquiescence, violence, or nonviolent resistance are ways the oppressed deal with their oppressors. In King's excerpt, he expresses that nonviolent resistance is the morally and correct way of dealing with oppression. King believed it was only through nonviolent resistance that things would begin to change for the oppressed.

Acquiescence, passive assent or agreement without protest, makes an individual accept his situation and thereby adjusts his lifestyle to accommodate for it. The individual has given up hope for change and has accepted his fate in the world he is living in. In many cases, the individual would rather accept this unjust lifestyle than fight for change. King imparts that this is not the way to handle oppression and is...