Perfect example. “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”
After more than a decade of activism, MLK didn’t live to see the passage of the Civil Rights Act. And that law didn’t solve the problem of racial inequality.
If you were alive in MLK’s time, you would be complaining that he hadn’t done enough.
Still wouldn’t have happened without direct action, which is ultimately what I’m trying to get at in these comments. People like MLK had to put their asses on the line to make change happen. Had to rally support. Simply voting doesn’t really accomplish much. It took Black Americans getting beat in the streets, causing issues for politicians to get the civil rights act past the finish line. You’re right that it does take time for progress to happen but without direct action like what MLK did I don’t think anything would have ever gotten accomplished.