by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. w . Soon we would be paying almost the full costs of this tragic attempt at recolonization. 56 0 obj Tax ID: 26-2810489. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. Not only were they fighting for their own rights in 1976, but they were sending away the son, husbands, brothers of other Americans thousands of miles away to the country of Vietnam to fight an unjust war for the rights of the people in Southeast Asia. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. I heard him speak so many times. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. 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. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history. We must continue to raise our voices and our lives if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of concerned clergy and laity at Riverside Church in New York City, New York. "I think there . The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering realityand if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing clergy and laymen concerned committees for the next generation. or 404 526-8968. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. 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. I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be here tonight, and how very delighted I am to see you expressing your concern about the issues that will be discussed tonight by turning out in such large numbers. In the end, Vietnamese communism stopped short of exporting revolution beyond Indochina because its radical character had created enemies . Infant mortality rates fell from 32.6 per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 16.7 in 2020. #7 Infrastructure Development. In a version of theTransformed Nonconformistsermon given in January 1966 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, King voiced his own opposition to the Vietnam War, describing American aggression as a violation of the 1954 Geneva Accord that promised self-determination. Notably, the economy grew at an average annual rate of 7.5% in 1991-2000 period. Violence of the US government - How can we criticize violence abroad when our own King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. After more than a decade in the public eye fighting racism and inequality in America, King plunged himself into another searing, divisive issue in America with his speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, given at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967. When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over America and all over the world, when justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream., 2023 WNET. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. #3 Government Support. What must they think of the United States of 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? It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. We were sending young Black men 8,000 miles away to die for freedoms they don't have at home. MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change 251K views 7 years ago William Pepper - The Execution of Martin Luther King. 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. Neither is it an attempt to make North Vietnam or the National Liberation Front paragons of virtue, nor to overlook the role they must play in the successful resolution of the problem. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Some great cause, Gods new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight, Ho Chi Minh has watched as America has spoken of peace and built up its forces, and now he has surely heard the increasing international rumors of American plans for an invasion of the North. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is a civil rights legend. Watch the Public Broadcasting Laboratory documentary Free at Last: Martin Luther King Jr. (streaming on THIRTEEN Specials), which was being filmed when Dr. King was assassinated and premiered on THIRTEEN just three days after his death. In the speech at Riverside Church, King talked about how the US had supported France in trying to re-colonize . Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony. Perhaps a more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. << /Type /XRef /Length 100 /Filter /FlateDecode /DecodeParms << /Columns 5 /Predictor 12 >> /W [ 1 3 1 ] /Index [ 51 91 ] /Info 74 0 R /Root 53 0 R /Size 142 /Prev 584506 /ID [] >> King used his famous oration skills to point out the hypocrisy of U.S. foreign affairs in view of the sorry domestic state of equality in America. Moreover, I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. MLK's Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. Dr. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. 9 min read. Or will there be another message of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? 7 reason to bring into his "moral vision". It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. King holds the U.S. government and the American people responsible for the Vietnam . Over the last eight years, I have had the privilege of preaching here almost every year in that period, and it is always a rich and rewarding experience to come to this great church and this great pulpit. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live. endobj If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us. Similarly, both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Ralph Bunche accused King of linking two disparate issues, Vietnam and civil rights. Martin Luther King Jr. gave many speeches in his lifetime. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence " Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence ", also referred as the Riverside Church speech, [1] is an anti-Vietnam War and pro- social justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. #6 Low Expenses. endstream Vietnam spending eviscerated of the Poverty Program 2. In the air, America reached new heights with NASA's Apollo 8 orbiting the moon and Boeing's 747 jumbo jet's first flight. Number two: Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation. 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. In this speech he use Logos and Pathos. Dr. Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech and analyze his opposition to the war and his commitment to fighting for justice for the poor and marginalized. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition. Surely we must understand their feelings, even if we do not condone their actions. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? 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. King gave his most famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963 to a crowd of more than 250,000 people . We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: This way of settling differences is not just. This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nations homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond ones tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing embracing and unconditional love for all mankind. Beyond Vietnam (or Time to End the Silence) . Kings address emphasized his responsibility to the American people and explained that conversations with young black men in the ghettos reinforced his own commitment to nonviolence. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. Recent flashpoints. Hear the entire recording of Martin Luther King, Jr.s Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence speech, including introductory applause and a greeting King makes to his fellow clergy speakers. There is at the outset a very obvious and Dr. MLK: Beyond Vietnam to Ukraine. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor. I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. Four: Realistically accept the fact that the National Liberation Front has substantial support in South Vietnam and must thereby play a role in any meaningful negotiations and any future Vietnam government. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, This way of settling differences is not just. This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nations homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. Though the cause of evil prosper, yet tis truth alone is strong In the light of such tragic misunderstanding, I deem it of signal importance to try to state clearly, and I trust concisely, why I believe that the path from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church the church in Montgomery, Alabama, where I began my pastorate leads clearly to this sanctuary tonight. King, Interview on Face the Nation, 29 August 1965, RRML-TxTyU. They question our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this One? So, too, with Hanoi. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. beyond vietnam 7 reasons. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: Let us love one another, for love is God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us. Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. Five years ago he said, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. And 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. endobj Please c, ontact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. at. King's famous speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A time to break the silence," deserves study by antiwar activists and others seeking a better understanding of the battle for economic justice, racial equality and freedom at home and abroad. I still think this is probably the best., It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Cambodia and why American napalm and Green Beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru. I also want to say that I consider it a great honor to share this program with Dr. Bennett, Dr. Commager, and Rabbi Heschel, and some of the distinguished leaders and personalities of our nation. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent. In that address he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this 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. Since I am a preacher by calling, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. Three: Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand and our interference in Laos. Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts. 609 Words. by Rick Sterling January 16, 2023. Could it be that they do not know that the good news was meant for all men for Communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative? King, Martin Luther Jr. "Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam." In Editors of Ramparts with Banning Garrett and Katherine Barkley (Eds.) We must move past indecision to action. King, a gifted speaker who normally wouldnt read from text, did read out Beyond Vietnam because he planned to submit it to publications and did not want to be misquoted. Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins. Since I am a preacher by calling, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. The church maintains an active social justice mission today. Let us not join those who shout war . Both the Washington Post and New York Times published editorials criticizing the speech, with the Post noting that Kings speech haddiminished his usefulness to his cause, to his country, and to his peoplethrough a simplistic and flawed view of the situation (A Tragedy,6 April 1967). stream #1 Strong Economic Growth Rates. King had stepped up his anti-war proclamations on February 25, 1967, when he appeared at a convention in Beverly Hills, California. Omar Khayyam is right: The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.. They illustrate the depth of Dr. King's comprehension that the Civil Rights Movement was a struggle of more than one race in one nation at one point in time. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam. Perhaps a more difficult but no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as our enemies. We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. I speak of the for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam. 3. Somehow this madness must cease. Harding, a native of Harlem, NYC, received his BA from City College of New York and Masters in Journalism from Columbia University before serving in the US Army (1953-55) and receiving a PhD in History at the University in Chicago in 1965. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. In addition to Martin Luther King, Jr., the church has hosted many prominent speakers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was executed in 1945 at a German concentration camp; Cesar Chavez, the Mexican-American civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association; and Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and former president of South Africa. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. Follow along with the transcript, below. Surely we must see that the men we supported pressed them to their violence. The essence of the speech focused on the war in Vietnam. According to a recent report by Transparency International, Vietnam's corruption levels significantly decreased in 2021, down to 87th most corrupt from 104th in 2020. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. This is a case of getting out of a certain frame of mind, of a way of thinking about ourselves and about the world.. Freedom's Ring: King's "I Have a Dream" Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views. PBS talk show host Tavis. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem. In 1957, a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. Here's the video. His speech appears below. Kings anti-war sentiments emerged publicly for the first time in March 1965, when King declared thatmillions of dollars can be spent every day to hold troops in South Viet Nam and our country cannot protect the rights of Negroes in Selma(King, 9 March 1965). The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood it ebbs. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. 3. stop the creation of battlefield in Laos and Thailand. Christina Knight is Managing Editor of Institutional Marketing at The WNET Group. And if we will only make the right choice, we will be able to transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace. << /Filter /FlateDecode /S 163 /Length 230 >> We must provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country, if necessary. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. The actual speech begins at 1:41 in the recording. King,Beyond Vietnam,4 April 1967, NNRC. On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King delivered his first major public statement against the Vietnam War, entitled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence." Addressing a crowd of 3,000 at Riverside Church in New York City, King condemned the war as anti-democratic, impractical, and unjust. stream For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. We have cooperated in the crushing in the crushing of the nations only non-Communist revolutionary political force, the unified Buddhist Church. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of April 4, 1967, now known as the "Beyond Vietnam" speech are such words. Martin Luther King uses persuasive argument in his speeches. We must not engage in a negative anticommunism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? 1968 was a turning point in U.S. history, a year of triumphs and tragedies, social and political upheavals, that forever changed our country. The United States got involved in the Vietnam War because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. To speak for them is to explain this lack of confidence in Western words, and especially their distrust of American intentions now. San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1971. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise. Exactly a year later, King was assassinated. Now there is something seductively tempting about stopping there and sending us all off on what in some circles has become a popular crusade against the war in Vietnam. Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. It was titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." King criticized the war in Vietnam, calling on those of draft age to seek status as conscientious objectors and saying, "we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war." And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. Martin Luther King had spoken critically about the Vietnam War before, but it was his blistering Beyond Vietnam speech at an event sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam that gained wide attention. For 7 reasons: 1. Please contact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. atlicensing@i-p-m.comor 404 526-8968. One speech to show he did this is the "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence" speech. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, Vietnam becomes a strategic place for many foreign entrepreneurs to invest. xcbd`g`b``8 "Y& D2 IF>E0y6DrLb`] R3XM-c |)f&!ME He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. %PDF-1.5 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. stream About the Sermon "Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence" The "Beyond Vietnam" sermon was drafted by historian and activist Vincent Gordon Harding. Dr. King choose to speak out against the war in Vietnam? In early 1967 King stepped up his anti-war proclamations, giving similar speeches in Los Angeles and Chicago. The speech was drafted from a collection of volunteers, including Spelman professor Vincent Harding and Wesleyan professor John Maguire. After the French were defeated, it looked as if independence and land reform would come again through the Geneva Agreement. He stated . Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing 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. As if the weight of such a commitment to the life and health of America were not enough, another burden of responsibility was placed upon me in 1954; and I cannot forget that the Nobel Peace Prize was also a commission, a commission to work harder than I had ever worked before for the brotherhood of man. This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Soon, the only solid solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call fortified hamlets. The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these. 54 0 obj King,The Casualties of the War in Vietnam,25 February 1967, CLPAC. 55 0 obj Beyond Vietnam Ethos Pathos Logos. 5. set a date to remove all foreign troops. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. In the mid-1950s, King led the movement to end segregation and counter prejudice in the . xc```b``9Y `6+ *i`x!fw[ TC82U |])KXl[T7R)UbpE0q@e8.;c q8, e0+EN328v`8 00~QAI[ksz#Jw;`t!>8#oB;|;!V QM Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. Equally unclear is why Vietnam decided to begin accepting deportees who arrived in the United States prior to 1995. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. Declaringmy conscience leaves me no other choice,King described the wars deleterious effects on both Americas poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war through nonviolent means (King, Beyond Vietnam, 139). The peasants watched and cringed as Diem ruthlessly rooted out all opposition, supported their extortionist landlords, and refused even to discuss reunification with the North. Freedom is still the bonus we receive for knowing the truth. #4 New Market. #5 Free Trade Agreements. Photo: Ad Meskens. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. Before the end of the war we were meeting eighty percent of the French war costs. 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.. 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. ZIP FILE INCLUDES: 4 page worksheet with MLK's "Beyond Vietnam" Speech (PDF)Worksheet Answer KeyTeacher directions with ideas for useCHECK OUT THE . King enumerated seven major reasons to bring the war to an end based on moral vision.
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