The clergymen also disapproved of tensions created by public actions such as sit-ins and marches. To this, King confirmed that he and his fellow demonstrators were indeed using nonviolent direct action in order to create “constructive” tension.[5] This tension was intended to compel meaningful negotiation with the white power structure, without which true civil rights could never be achieved. Citing previous failed negotiations, King wrote that the black community was left with “no alternative.”[5] “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”[9]