Answer:
Tension is necessary for growth.
Step-by-step explanation:
In his "Letter From Birmingham Jail", Martin Luther King eloquently wrote about the need to resort to such non-violent acts of protestations. He had been arrested for protesting against the issue of segregation in lunch counters and even in employment. His issue is to get equal rights and liberties for the blacks alongside their white citizens.
In the given passage, he stressed the need of non-violent forms to make his point across about the racial discrimination that his people are subjected to. Giving a reply for why there is "sit ins, marches and so forth", he claims that these are needed so that the tension brought by them through their act will pressurize the concerned authorities into paying attention to them. Since they are so reluctant "to negotiate", it left them (the protesters) no choice but to get their attention forcibly. They needed to be "forced to confront the issue" even if it creates tension. For tension is the only way they can make their point known and recognized, which he (King) admits he's "not afraid of". And if it is the only way for progress, then so let it be.