Martin Luther King and his Pilgrimage to Non-violence

Upon reading this excerpt and learning about King's studies of non-violence, including studies of many philosophers, Gandhi's practices, and learning about communism, I was particularly intrigued by the 5 points of non-violence that King talks about in reference to the Montgomery Movement. This was most interesting to me because of the way King insists that non-violence does in fact work, and it is not easy ; it takes courage.
The first point that King discusses is that non-violence is not pacifism. This is in reference to Gandhi's principles; Gandhi always was against pacifism. King emphasizes in this first point, like Gandhi, the importance of non-cooperation without violence.
The second point, which I found very interesting, is that King's aim was not just to defeat the injustice, but to befriend the opponent. Gandhi's main focus was to change a wrongdoer's mind. King goes on to say that one must reconcile ties with the opponent after nonviolence.
Thirdly King emphasizes that the attack is on the injustice, not the people performing said injustice. I think this is an important distinction to be made. Without this distinction, a nonviolent resistor may lose sight of morality and take their resistance too far into violence. It is important to recognize that the victim is the injustice, not the people who may be manipulated by others to produce said injustice.
King's fourth point highlights Gandhi's principle of "turn the other cheek." He stresses the importance of being able to take a blow without retaliation. This is key to Gandhi's work because Gandhi believed that by taking blows without fighting back, it lets the opponent see his injustice.
Finally, in King's fifth point, he explains that nonviolence carries into the self, not only through one's actions. One must be peaceful inside of himself to truly carry out nonviolence, not simply through his actions. I think this is a point that is overlooked the most often in non-violence, because when injustice is being done, it can be extremely painful and difficult to be peaceful toward the enemy on the inside.
King's points form an important framework for non-violence. I think it is extremely commendable that King was able to hold these ideals during the Civil Rights Movement despite the horrifying injustices that were occurring at the time.