A Baptist minister and founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King had led the civil rights movement since the mid-1950s, using a combination of impassioned speeches. That night Dr. King shocked the world and his followers when . They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. WALT (Caller): Yes. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He had fallen off already the list, as you mentioned, had already fallen off the list of the most admired Americans as tallied by Gallup every year. Their questions are frighteningly relevant. This speech was enormously controversial. In the north, where our bombs now pummel the land, and our mines endanger the waterways, we are met by a deep but understandable mistrust. People And Peace Not Profits And War Rhetorical Devices Dr. Full text of speech. "I've Been to the Mountaintop" is the popular name of the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. King spoke on April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. The speech primarily concerns the Memphis sanitation strike.King calls for unity, economic actions, boycotts, and nonviolent protest, while challenging the United States to live . ml.K-x1x*tcSO p[ endstream endobj 62 0 obj 720 endobj 63 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 62 0 R >> stream Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War Speech Analysis Mr. SMILEY: Yeah. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. CONAN: And the place - choice of place is very interesting too. Now there is little left to build onsave bitterness. After he gives it, 168 major newspapers the next day denounce him. Twin towers were planned from Afghanistan. "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. I would like to suggest five concrete things that our government should do immediately to begin the long and difficult process of extricating ourselves from this nightmarish conflict: 1. Q%F70%iR! Dr. P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. When he saw those pictures, there's a very famous picture, Neal, that we all know of a Vietnamese girl running naked in the streets who had just been, you know, had been victimized as had her village by these napalm attacks. MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence - YouTube 0000006515 00000 n The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these? "[10], King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms. 0000002516 00000 n Appreciate it. Although the peace community lauded Kings willingness to take a public stand against the war in Vietnam, many within the civil rights movement further distanced themselves from his stance. It was, to your earlier point, the most controversial speech he ever gave. So when the president suggests - and whether directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally diminishes in that Nobel speech Martin's powerful, nonviolent philosophy, it tweaked some people, and you'll see that in the presentation Wednesday night. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? Less than two weeks after leading his first Vietnam demonstration, on 4 April 1967, King made his best known and most comprehensive statement against the war. What of the National Liberation Front that strangely anonymous group we call VC or Communists? And we are spending money for a war abroad that ought to be spent for the war on poverty here at home. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. All rights reserved. King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism", he also rejected communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism", and its "political totalitarianism. His wife, Coretta Scott King, took a more active role in opposing the war, speaking at a rally at the Washington Monument on 27 November 1965 with Benjamin Spock, the renowned pediatrician and anti-war activist, and joined in other demonstrations. Martin Luther King Jr. - Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam Smiley continues, "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr: A Time to Break Silence (Declaration Against the Vietnam War) M artin L uther K ing, J r. Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City [Photo Credit: John C. Goodwin] [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. 0000001616 00000 n But certainly one of the greatest orators of our time. Because he received a letter from a little white girl who said, Dr. King, I read the newspaper that had you sneezed that blade would've moved, ruptured your aorta and you would've drowned in your own blood. We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. The first signs of opposition to King's tactics from within the civil rights movement surfaced during the March 1965 demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, which were aimed at dramatizing the need for a federal voting-rights law that would provide legal support for the enfranchisement of . The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.. And King had preached at this church any number of times before, of course. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life? So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land. So, that's all I had to say. 0000002427 00000 n What liberators? Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony. In a way we were agreeing with Langston Hughes, that black bard of Harlem, who had written earlier: O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath America will be! Recently one of them wrote these words: Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. And that is precisely what concerned Dr. King so much, that these young boys were being sent halfway around the world to fight a war that was unwinnable, that resources were being used there that should've been used here at home. The only change came from America as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept and without popular support. Later that year King framed the issue of war in Vietnam as a moral issue: As a minister of the gospel, he said, I consider war an evil. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. It was a tactical mistake. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. He rarely gave speeches from a text. hide caption. 0000007161 00000 n Mr. SMILEY: That's right. This quote is from a sermon by Dr. King on April 30, 1967 at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, drawing from his infamous April 4 sermon at Riverside Church. The march was organized by the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and initiated by its chairman, James Bevel. This call for a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond ones tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. King to Weigh Civil Disobedience). We appreciate that. Then we must make what reparations we can for the damage we have done. Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. HT0WJ3 O$L Of course, he's assassinated in Memphis a year to the day later after giving this speech. It was they who led a second struggle against French domination at tremendous costs, and then were persuaded to give up the land they controlled between the thirteenth and seventeenth parallel as a temporary measure at Geneva. [citation needed]. 2/QB(yQVz^*oU.FW Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. I Have a Dream | Date, Quotations, & Facts | Britannica [citation needed], One of the eight "sound cells" in @Large, Ai Weiwei's 201415 exhibit at Alcatraz, features King's voice giving the "Beyond Vietnam" speech. Hanoi remembers how our leaders refused to tell us the truth about the earlier North Vietnamese overtures for peace, how the president claimed that none existed when they had clearly been made. That Vietnam was a mistake. One of his great advisers and great admirers, Stanley Levison, who was always with Dr. King in his corner, was against Martin giving this speech. Du Bois to Coretta Scott King: The Untold History of the Movement to Ban the Bomb. A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. In December 1966, testifying before a congressional subcommittee on budget priorities, King argued for a rebalancing of fiscal priorities away from Americas obsession with Vietnam and toward greater support for anti-poverty programs at home (Semple, Dr. "[23], King also stated in "Beyond Vietnam" that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on. between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. Dr. By the time King made the "Beyond Vietnam" speech, Smiley tells host Neal Conan, "he had fallen off already the list of most-admired Americans as tallied by Gallup every year." Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Beyond Vietnam" - Zinn Education Project 0000009985 00000 n Exactly one year before his assassination, on April 4, 1967, Rev. And Walt's with us from Cortez in Colorado. capitalism, and the Vietnam War. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Carson and Shepard, 2001. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example, issued a statement against merging the civil rights and peace movements. We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. King to Weigh Civil Disobedience If War Intensifies, New York Times, 2 April 1967. Vietnam War - The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute In that address, he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. CONAN: Oh, the audio is terrible, though. I've always thought that was, to me, his best speech, his most consequential speech, even better than I have a dream in the mountain top speech. Dr. Benjamin Spock (2nd-L), Martin Luther King, Jr. (C), Father Frederick Reed and Cleveland Robinson lead a huge pacifist rally protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war, Mar. And King gives a great speech out of that hospital called "If I Had Sneezed." In 1967, in the shadows of Columbia, Dr. King shifted the world again. Read The Full Text And Listen To Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" Speech. (Scott) King,My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., 1969. Martin Luther King Jr. was deeply troubled by the Vietnam War for years, but the "Beyond Vietnam" speech was his first major policy statement on the issue. Smiley spoke with both scholars and friends of King, including Cornel West, Vincent Harding and Susannah Heschel. Keep in mind now that 1967, Neal, as you know, is the same year that Muhammad Ali, the world champion, decides to not accept that draft to go and fight in Vietnam. Martin built his speech that night, Neal, around three major points: around increasing militarism, around escalating poverty and around the issue of racism. King Scores Poverty Budget, New York Times, 16 December 1966. CONAN: Walt, thank you. Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? Neither is it an attempt to make North Vietnam or the National Liberation Front paragons of virtue, nor to overlook the role they can play in a successful resolution of the problem. The Story Of King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech : NPR Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores and thereby speed the day when every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain.. And they are surely right to wonder what kind of new government we plan to help form without them the only party in real touch with the peasants. How can they believe in our integrity when now we speak of aggression from the north as if there were nothing more essential to the war? "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence", also referred as the Riverside Church speech,[1] is an antiVietnam War and prosocial justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech in New York. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. I think of them too because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. 0000002605 00000 n Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. And that's the issue that King was raising. And Tavis, nice to have you back in the program. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. So they go primarily women and children and the aged. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Since I am a preacher by trade, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. Thanks, as always for your time. But two, to the audio, there are only less than 10 minutes of this speech that got covered. I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor. And the last poll taken in his life by Harris, the Harris Poll, Neal, found that nearly three quarters of the American people, nearly three quarters, had turned against Martin on this issue, and 55 percent of his own people, black folk, had turned against him. In this speech, he opposes violence and militarism, particularly the war in Vietnam. Accuracy and availability may vary. He would no longer be respected. Check your local listings. Kings opposition to the war provoked criticism from members of Congress, the press, and from his civil rights colleagues who argued that expanding his civil rights message to include foreign affairs would harm the black freedom struggle in America. King 's work to eradicate racial segregation was abruptly halted when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. For nine years we vigorously supported the French in their abortive effort to recolonize Vietnam. 0000004621 00000 n 0000009168 00000 n Martin Luther King's Most Controversial Speech: Beyond Vietnam - THIRTEEN A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. If you remember the speech, tell us what it meant at that time, and does the principle of nonviolence apply in the age of al-Qaida? 0000002025 00000 n Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence - Wikipedia They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight. Seeking to reduce the potential backlash by framing his speech within the context of religious objection to war, King addressed a crowd of 3,000 people at Riverside Church in New York City. 0000010534 00000 n They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. During the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which now has justified the presence of U.S. military advisors in Venezuela. And I can't tell young black men, who are being denied right here in the streets of America, that they should offer themselves up and to sign themselves up to go - to do harm to people around the world who they do not know. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. Tomorrow, the latest installment with the political junkie. It is not addressed to China or to Russia. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit. All Rights Reserved. We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise. PBS talk show. For as popular as King was, he was a Nobel laureate, there were only one or two news crews who actually came to see the speech that night, Neal. 0000008326 00000 n It was the speech he labored over the most. As we counsel young men concerning military service we must clarify for them our nations role in Vietnam and challenge them with the alternative of conscientious objection. 0000009964 00000 n There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. But there was a great turnout for the speech. Attachment 2: Definitions Attachment 3: King Opposed Vietnam War; We Must Oppose US War in Iraq. King Leads Chicago Peace Rally, New York Times, 26 March 1967. And secondly, so many civil rights leaders were opposed to him giving it because LBJ had been the best president to black people on civil rights. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Challenges of the final years | Britannica The message directly challenged the president who'd taken great political risks to support civil rights legislation and also challenged many of his colleagues in the movement who've called it a tactical mistake. The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1945 after a combined French and Japanese occupation, and before the Communist revolution in China. And he said these three issues of racism and poverty and militarism are going to destroy this nation. In his 1967 speech on the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, Jr. employs figurative language and syntactical elements to construct his argument against the hypocrisy and cruelty of American involvement in the war. That's what I feel. At the U.N. King also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. It was the speech he labored over the most. [27] Thich Nhat Hanh, who publicly held a news conference in Chicago with King in 1966, was acknowledged for urging King to oppose the Vietnam War. They wander into the hospitals, with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. While his legacy is commonly remembered by his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, we've sourced four powerful, lesser-known speeches from Dr. King to listen to and commemorate . The United States got involved in the Vietnam War because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. We most provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country if necessary. 0000012562 00000 n Beyond Vietnam2 in that . So he was no longer on that particular list. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? In Hanoi are the men who led the nation to independence against the Japanese and the French, the men who sought membership in the French commonwealth and were betrayed by the weakness of Paris and the willfulness of the colonial armies. War is not the answer. Because, to your point now, one, I want people to go online and read the speech so you can see the text for yourself. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. But the entire speech, of course, thankfully, was recorded on audio. Copyright 2010 NPR. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poorboth black . As we all know, Neal, before he died, Robert McNamara, the Defense secretary that had Walt and others over in Vietnam, before he died, of course, announced that he was wrong. The major speech at Riverside Church in New York City, followed several interviews[2] and several other public speeches in which King came out against the Vietnam War and the policies that created it. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. And that's just the Times and the Post. I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. They brought in extra chairs.
martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript
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