Martin Luther King's Speech Against the Vietnam War And King gives a great speech out of that hospital called "If I Had Sneezed." 0000002784 00000 n He turned that into a great speech when he got out of the hospital. In his last Sunday sermon, delivered at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968, King said that he was convinced that [Vietnam] is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world (King, Remaining Awake, 219). 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. It was a tactical mistake. But they chose Riverside because King was going to be speaking some days later at a huge rally and march in New York City, and they knew that that rally was going to bring out a different kind of element, a more controversial element. 0000002427 00000 n $25.00. Exactly one year before his assassination, on April 4, 1967, Rev. 0000009168 00000 n ml.K-x1x*tcSO p[ endstream endobj 62 0 obj 720 endobj 63 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 62 0 R >> stream MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence - YouTube A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. Read The Full Text And Listen To Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" Speech. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. As the head of state, I cannot necessarily embrace the same principles that, as you point out, Martin Luther King, a prophet, an outsider could embrace. After 1954 they watched us conspire with Diem to prevent elections which would have surely brought Ho Chi Minh to power over a united Vietnam, and they realized they had been betrayed again. It was the speech he labored over the most. All rights reserved. He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. Appreciate it. These are revolutionary times. Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemys point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. 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 . Martin Luther King's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, 10 December 1964 Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: But Carson makes a powerful point in the special that you just identified, about whether or not Martin King himself would be welcome in some of these mega-churches, at certain political gatherings. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. Nor is it an attempt to overlook the ambiguity of the total situation and the need for a collective solution to the tragedy of Vietnam. Dr. King is trying to get the point across that our country is being unfair to others. 0000007161 00000 n The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. How do they judge us when our officials know that their membership is less than twenty-five percent Communist and yet insist on giving them the blanket name? He criticized the Vietnam War and praised Muhammad Ali for being a conscientious objector. It was a wonderful, I think, place to give the speech in the sense that it's pretty cavernous. The film is the second episode of Tavis Smiley Reports. Beyond Vietnam A Time To Break Silence Rhetorical Precis Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr.. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter but beautifulstruggle for a new world. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. Twin towers were planned from Afghanistan. What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? He rarely gave speeches from a text. And it was on that occasion that he - when he saw those pictures, said, I have to speak out about this. Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. Mr. SMILEY: Neal, thank you for the opportunity. Meanwhile we in the churches and synagogues have a continuing task while we urge our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment. PDF Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence ~ MLK Speech 1967 - CRM Vet It's a powerful refrain, Neal, about what would've happened in his life, what he would've missed if he had sneezed at that very moment. 0000005696 00000 n [16][17] King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation, and more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice. *];\n~~/iQ|h Q I must cry out when I see war escalated at any point (Opposes Vietnam War). April 30, 1967: "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" Speech Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. What must they be thinking when they know that we are aware of their control of major sections of Vietnam and yet we appear ready to allow national elections in which this highly organized political parallel government will have no part? (Scott) King,My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., 1969. What must they think of us in America when they realize that we permitted the repression and cruelty of Diem which helped to bring them into being as a resistance group in the south? What liberators? His house was bombed. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks out against the war - HISTORY And Tavis, nice to have you back in the program. King linked his anti-war and civil rights work in speeches throughout the country, where he described the three problems he saw plaguing the nation: racism, poverty, and the war in Vietnam. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. [citation needed]. The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam. We must not call everyone a Communist or an appeaser who advocates the seating of Red China in the United Nations and who recognizes that hate and hysteria are not the final answers to the problem of these turbulent days. Martin Luther King's Speech Against the Vietnam War by David Bromwich May 16, 2008 O ne of the greatest speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Time to Break Silence," was delivered at Riverside Church, New York City, on April 4, 1967. And so the question was, Martin, why would you antagonize the president who has been our friend? Tavis Smiley joins us today from the Sheryl Flowers Studios in Los Angeles. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Colombia and why American napalm and green beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru. But Martin understood very clearly that what we ought to be doing at home is being - we are being distracted, rather, by our engagement around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech opposing the Vietnam War in April 1967. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Challenges of the final years | Britannica What of the National Liberation Front that strangely anonymous group we call VC or Communists? 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. (Unintelligible) on this program about, you know, the chances he took and even, you know, speaking truth to power to LBJ helped him so much in civil rights. At what cost? I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. 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.. "[9], King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. HOWARD: How are you doing, Tavis? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. And I think that if nothing else what we need to wrestle with in a contemporary sense, Neal, is the question of whether or not there is another way that King would have us consider were he allowed to do. 0000002605 00000 n On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. But the entire speech, of course, thankfully, was recorded on audio. 0000007566 00000 n Copy of full text of the "Beyond Vietnam" speech. 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. 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. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King gave his first major public address on the war in Vietnam at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City. As that noble bard of yesterday, James Russell Lowell, eloquently stated: Once to every man and nation Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth and falsehood, For the good or evil side; Some great cause, Gods new Messiah, Offring each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever Twixt that darkness and that light. Thanks, as always for your time. 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. [27], In 2010, PBS commentator Tavis Smiley said that the speech was the most controversial speech of King's career, and the one he "labored over the most". Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War - The Atlantic If Dr. King were to say to the organizers of these events, I'd like to show up at your church on Sunday morning, at your rally this weekend, and here's what I want to say, there is a good argument to be made that Dr. King himself might not be welcome - might not be allowed to say what was in his heart, what his conscience really was, given the political correctness of the world that we live in today. Legendary civil rights leader Rev. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Let me say this right quick: The comparisons between what King was addressing then about militarism, poverty and racism sound familiar 45 years later. 0000001700 00000 n 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. 0000004855 00000 n Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. Part of our ongoing commitment might well express itself in an offer to grant asylum to any Vietnamese who fears for his life under a new regime which included the Liberation Front. 0000002025 00000 n We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. Though the cause of evil prosper, Yet tis truth alone is strong; Though her portion be the scaffold, And upon the throne be wrong: Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow Keeping watch above his own. Beyond Vietnam: The MLK speech that caused an uproar - USA TODAY So, too, with Hanoi. CONAN: Indeed, it was Oslo. Sorry, I'm a little bit emotional here. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence - Wikipedia And he starts out in the opening line at Riverside Church by saying: I am here tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. Of course, again, that philosophy, when the papers got a hold of him the next day, that strategy didn't work so well. The cornerstones of his activism were based on non-violence and civil disobedience, both of which were inspired by his Christian faith and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. CONAN: "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. In that address, he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. Mr. SMILEY: It's a powerful point made by Clayborne Carson at Stanford who is in charge, as you know, Neal, of the King papers. They know they must move or be destroyed by our bombs. But LBJ disinvites him to the White House. Soon we would be paying almost the full costs of this tragic attempt at recolonization. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horribly clumsy and deadly game we have decided to play. For those who ask the question, Arent you a civil rights leader? and thereby mean to exclude me from the movement for peace, I have this further answer. Dr. I am pleased to say that this is the path now being chosen by more than seventy students at my own alma mater, Morehouse College, and I recommend it to all who find the American course in Vietnam a dishonorable and unjust one. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. His speech appears below. Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist that led the Civil Rights Movement, and other movements until his assassination in 1968. And number two, at what cost? The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. JwNt YHiA:{p . And King had preached at this church any number of times before, of course. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. The Story Of King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech : NPR You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. 0000005717 00000 n 50 Years Ago: Dr. King's Anti-War Sermon at Riverside Church King, Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, in A Knock at Midnight, ed. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. 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. Mr. SMILEY: And therein lies the rub. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today my own government. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War Speech Analysis 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. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch anti-revolutionaries. Martin Luther King, Jr. utilizes figurative to emphasize the inhumanity and immorality of the war. (1947) Moranda Smith Addresses The Congress Of Industrial Organizations Annual Convention, Boston, (1974) Congresswoman Barbara Jordans Statement: The Richard Nixon Impeachment Hearings, African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html, Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. 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. 0000004621 00000 n I just wanted to say that I was an 18-year-old Marine in Vietnam when the speech was given, and I didn't hear it until three or four years ago. Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech was delivered at the Riverside Church in New York exactly one year before his assassination. Mr. SMILEY: Yeah. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. CONAN: And one thing that I was unaware of was the timing of the speech in that he had wanted to say something along these lines. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, organized the 1963 March on Washington, advocated for civil disobedience and. Ken Rudin joins guest host Rebecca Roberts. Mr. SMILEY: Yeah. Four years after President John F. Kennedy sent the first American troops into Vietnam, Martin Luther King, Jr., issued his first public statement on the war. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. On April 15, 1967, King participated and spoke at an anti-war march from Manhattan's Central Park to the United Nations. And so I think most Americans, Neal, know the "I Have A Dream" speech. One of the things, I hope, Neal, will happen here is that when people get a chance to see the special, they will be moved - I think they will be - to Google or Bing, whatever search engine you use, to go online, because the speech is so readily available, Neal, as you know. After he gives it, 168 major newspapers the next day denounce him. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech in New York. But it ends up being the most controversial speech. But this is, again, precisely what King was concerned about, putting the lives of everyday Americans on the line in a fight that was not winnable and a war that was unjust. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. Afghanistan, not so much. But most Americans, I think, do not know this speech, "Beyond Vietnam.". CONAN: Howard, thanks very much for the call. Even before the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, they began to despair of the reckless action, but we did not. I say we must enter the struggle, but I wish to go on now to say something even more disturbing. "[10], King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms. That's what I feel. Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these? We must move past indecision to action. The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. 3. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops. PBS talk show. We must stop now. 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. 0000002694 00000 n PDF. [28], A portion of this speech is used in the track "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" by Linkin Park, from their 2010 album A Thousand Suns. U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, King: A Filmed Record Montgomery to Memphis, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King. But there was a great turnout for the speech. n/a martin luther king jr. (born michael king january 15, 1929 april 1968) was an american baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in . or 404 526-8968. 0000009964 00000 n Perhaps the more difficult but no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as our enemies. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. 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. complaining of what he described as a double standard that applauded his nonviolence at home, but deplored it when applied "toward little brown Vietnamese children. Let's go to Walt(ph). There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. Peace and civil rights dont mix, they say. In "People and Peace, not Profits and War," Shirley Chisholm repeats the words "two more years" (42). A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. I feel that Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali are two of the, you know, greatest Americans we've ever had. King Leads Chicago Peace Rally, New York Times, 26 March 1967. And after I was wounded, we had four or five 100-pound bomb dropped on us, and 10 Marines were killed outright and 24 were wounded. Undeterred, King, Spock, and Harry Belafonte led 10,000 demonstrators on an anti-war march to the United Nations on 15 April 1967. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. These too are our brothers. It will become clear that our minimal expectation is to occupy it as an American colony and men will not refrain from thinking that our maximum hope is to goad China into a war so that we may bomb her nuclear installations. King to Weigh Civil Disobedience If War Intensifies, New York Times, 2 April 1967. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that. Five years ago he said, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.. 0000008347 00000 n 0000008326 00000 n 159. But they asked and rightly so what about Vietnam? 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. 0000012541 00000 n Why are you joining the voices of dissent? CONAN: We're talking with Tavis Smiley about his PBS special, "Tavis Smiley Reports MLK: A Call to Conscience." Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poorboth black . Life magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi",[9] and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people. The question is, is it a war of necessity or a war of choice at this point? Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. How are you, sir? 0000003199 00000 n 0000006515 00000 n [citation needed]. It is not addressed to China or to Russia. Martin Luther King, Jr. 4 April 1967. I Have a Dream | Date, Quotations, & Facts | Britannica Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. That's my own personal assessment. Before he was assassinated at age 39, the Rev. 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. Sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. "Vincent Harding dies at 82; historian wrote controversial King speech", "Vincent Harding, author of Martin Luther King Jr.'s antiwar speech, dies", "The Rev. Well, it was taken in that context, anyway. The march was organized by the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and initiated by its chairman, James Bevel. He would no longer be respected. Shall we say the odds are too great? After the French were defeated it looked as if independence and land reform would come again through the Geneva agreements. To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Martin Luther King Jr - n/a - Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King 0000003415 00000 n hide caption. Check your local listings. When Diem was overthrown they may have been happy, but the long line of military dictatorships seemed to offer no real changeespecially in terms of their need for land and peace. "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. You can also join the conversation at our Web site. "[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. Watch a newsfilm clip of the speech . 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. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. King Leads Chicago). On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. Smiley spoke with both scholars and friends of King, including Cornel West, Vincent Harding and Susannah Heschel. Attachment 2: Definitions Attachment 3: King Opposed Vietnam War; We Must Oppose US War in Iraq. 0000002337 00000 n I Have a Dream, speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., that was delivered on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. Martin Luther King April 4, 1967 Riverside Church, New York City . Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts. And I think most Americans know the "I Have A Dream" speech. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. This speech was written and basically read word for word so that they could have a copy to give to mainstream newspapers across the country for their consideration, because King did not want to be misquoted Mr. SMILEY: or misunderstood, although that didn't work.
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martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript