It may well be that the Gandhian approach will bring about a solution to the race problem in America. His spirit is a continual reminder to oppressed people that it is possible to resist evil and yet not resort to violence."" (Martin Luther King Jr., www.stanford.edu) .
Gandhi addressed a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, informing him that unless Indian demands were met, he would be compelled to break the "salt laws". Predictably, his letter was received with bewildered amusement, and accordingly Gandhi set off with a small group of followers towards Dandi. Gandhi, 61 years old, reached Dandi after walking 241 kilometers in 24 days. Gandhi picked up a small lump of natural salt, and so gave the signal to hundreds of thousands of people to similarly defy the law, since the British exercised a monopoly on the production and sale of salt. This was the beginning of the civil disobedience movement. It was a brilliant, non-violent strategy by Gandhi. To enforce the law of the land, the British had to arrest the soldiers of civil disobedience and Indians courted arrest in millions. Gandhi himself was arrested, and thousands of others were also hauled into jail. There was panic in the administration and Indian freedom struggle finally gathered momentum both inside and outside of Indian. .
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used Gandhi's marching tactic in the Selma Marches. Martin Luther King Jr. led a voting-rights protest march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, more than fifty miles away. The goal of the march was to draw national attention to the struggle for black voting rights in the state. Police beat and tear-gassed the marchers just outside of Selma. The marches that occurred at Selma brought national attention to the situation. The hundreds of clergymen who came to Selma returned home and informed their congregations of the brutality and dedication that went on there.