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King was definitely not protesting in a rules based order, at least not one which applied to black people. Nor was Gandi.

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He also died from a bullet to the head and 60 years later a statement as simple as 'black lives matter' was controversial.

Nonviolence was never proposed as a shield for activists against violence. He knew what he was up against.

not so sure he did. Both King and X were “allowed” to speak out as much as they wanted… until each of them, realize the war they were fighting was not the real war. The real war was against the rich. Once Malcolm realized this, and that he was being played, and once MLK realized that non-violence was BS he started to drift more toward Malcolm’s end of things and direct that anger toward class warfare? That’s when they were each killed.

> a statement as simple as 'black lives matter' was controversial.

That was never controversial. What was controversial was the unstated implication after that statement: "and people don't think they do". When your slogan is a false accusation against people in general, they aren't going to take it well. Approximately zero people in the US think black lives don't matter, so they aren't going to appreciate you coming at them with that accusation even if it is left unstated.

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