Generally, when we sleep, we sleep at nearly perfect peace.  Our bodies go into a state where our dreams take over our minds and we are unsure what is real and what is a figment of our imaginations.  Our heart rates and our breathing are perfectly controlled. There is a sense that nothing can harm us.  Then, suddenly and without warning, something occurs in the real (external) world that is so loud or otherwise disconcerting that, rather than easing back into consciousness as we normally do (absent an alarm clock or wake-up call), we are shocked back into alertness.  The shock and fear and annoyance that we feel then is what Dr. King alluded to in his speech.  Those citizens who expected that civil rights activism was a "phase" and that the downtrodden would eventually lose interest in being treated as equals were going to eventually have to confront their own shock and fear and annoyance when they suddenly realized that their presumption was false.\n\nIt almost sounded as if Dr. King's words were intended as a thinly-veiled threat of physical violence which, if so, would be an ironic choice for someone intimately associated with non-violent change.  But I believe that he was actually illustrating that non-violent change should never be confused with complacent inaction.  In other words, although he would never have incited the people to use physical force to achieve any means, the sheer power of non-violence non-cooperation could have an explosive impact on the nation as a whole if the people's demands were not met.\n\nLanguage and allusion was all part of Dr. King's genius.