Why did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. use children as examples in Why We Can't Wait?

Why We Can't Wait was written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the most prolific and influential civil rights activists in the history of the world. Dr. King begins the book by introducing a comparison of the lives of two black children: a black boy growing up in Harlem, New York, and a black girl growing up in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King uses the examples to illustrate that young black children in different parts of the country struggle with poverty and limited opportunity in a land that claims to provide equal opportunity for all its citizens. Dr. King demonstrates that racial discrimination against African Americans is a national problem, not a regional problem with limited impacts. Dr. King mentions that racial discrimination in the North and the South is an injustice that must be addressed.
Another reason why Dr. King used examples of children is to stress the need for direct action to be taken. The future of children was at stake. The children's limited opportunities, in particular, were unaddressed, poverty aside. So Dr. King was trying to make an appeal to those who believe in giving our future generations the American Dream.