What is the theme in Why We Can't Wait by Martin Luther King?

Nonviolence for social change is the main theme in this book. MLK admits the violent methods used by armies of the North and South in the American Civil War result in a declaration that Negro slaves are free. However, one hundred years later in 1963 the Emancipation Proclamation is not fully implemented. Social constraints like segregated schools, hospitals and cemeteries "keep the Negro in his place." Menial, low-paying jobs and the threat of jail continue the effects of slavery. Jailed Negroes out of public view are at risk from southern police acting like slaveholders by abusing them. Fear of jail threatens Negroes to keep their place and stay out of jail.