martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript

This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit. ) fuG {*pZ//e,QTx)%TuS%@^2j/?Nf7nx!]OvqJG=_oD3?VUMs+tM95X )G~1b'g])!`]:|OwHh-J6ZHg{Z9N3b!\#9"zhT\]sp2WtTal =YvkO8yu 6^,n,v$+u$|^1wUF}GGc=p!e#F\]xx6l~NTYSmc /ut^*WTPO Cp =-FQW.]y#F6NsQ2Qzqz=|v94+JC?w4,|yi4T0eIaaeD2-Y1 War is not the answer. [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. He would no longer be respected. WALT (Caller): Yes. 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. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. Shall we say the odds are too great? Martin Luther King, Jr. utilizes figurative to emphasize the inhumanity and immorality of the war. Well, it was taken in that context, anyway. 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. [6], King delivered the speech, sponsored by the group Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, after committing to participate in New York's April 15, 1967 anti-Vietnam war march from Central Park to the United Nations, sponsored by the Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Not only that, but then-President Lyndon Johnson disinvited King to the White House. That night Dr. King shocked the world and his followers when . How Did Martin Luther King Jr Use Of Figurative Language 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. Some civil rights leaders urged King not to speak out on the Vietnam War, but he said he could not separate issues of economic injustice, racism, war, and militarism. 0000040748 00000 n [1][5], King was long opposed to American involvement in the Vietnam War, but at first avoided the topic in public speeches in order to avoid the interference with civil rights goals that criticism of President Johnson's policies might have created. ml.K-x1x*tcSO p[ endstream endobj 62 0 obj 720 endobj 63 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 62 0 R >> stream Martin built his speech that night, Neal, around three major points: around increasing militarism, around escalating poverty and around the issue of racism. 0000006515 00000 n 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. 0000007161 00000 n And we are spending money for a war abroad that ought to be spent for the war on poverty 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". 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. They wander into the hospitals, with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. 4 Powerful Martin Luther King, Jr. Speeches That Aren't 'I Have A Dream' At the U.N. King also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft. Fearful of being labeled a Communist, which would diminish the impact of his civil rights work, King tempered his criticism of U.S. policy in Vietnam through late 1965 and 1966. 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. They question our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded. We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative means of protest possible. And number two, at what cost? The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example, issued a statement against merging the civil rights and peace movements. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. When the Rev. King Leads Chicago Peace Rally, New York Times, 26 March 1967. 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. And I think most Americans know the "I Have A Dream" speech. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. He criticized the Vietnam War and praised Muhammad Ali for being a conscientious objector. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. 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. Martin Luther King Jr. - Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter but beautifulstruggle for a new world. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on lifes highway. 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. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. 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. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts. And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King at Ebenezer Church. 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. 0000002247 00000 n Meanwhile we in the churches and synagogues have a continuing task while we urge our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment. 0000013309 00000 n We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. [11], King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies, including President Johnson, Billy Graham,[citation needed] union leaders and powerful publishers. He supported Johnsons calls for diplomatic negotiations and economic development as the beginnings of such a step. 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? Martin Luther King's Beyond Vietnam Speech is in many ways even more relevant today than in 1967. . This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted conceptso readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly forcehas now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. A few years ago there was a shining moment. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, April 15, 1967 Anti-Vietnam war demonstrations, 1968 Democratic National Convention protests, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee, National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)", List of lynching victims in the United States, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beyond_Vietnam:_A_Time_to_Break_Silence&oldid=1133369048, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from January 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 12:35. 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. 0000009985 00000 n [citation needed]. Martin Luther King's Speech Against the Vietnam 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. Five years ago he said, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.. But they didn't stay for the speech in its entirety. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. Our government felt then that the Vietnamese people were not ready for independence, and we again fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long. I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. Surely we must see that the men we supported pressed them to their violence. "This was a huge, huge speech," he continues, "that got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done. Martin Luther King April 4, 1967 Riverside Church, New York City . Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? CONAN: Oh, the audio is terrible, though. So you got a Nobel laureate named King, a war president with a Nobel Prize named Obama, for all that we have done over the last two years to wed King and Obama together on T- shirts and everywhere else, were King alive today at 81, he and Obama would have a tension point, Neal, on this issue. Martin Luther King, Jr. 4 April 1967. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. They ask how we can speak of free elections when the Saigon press is censored and controlled by the military junta. Paul A. Schuette, King Preaches on Non-Violence at Police-Guarded Howard Hall, Washington Post, 3 March 1965. Copyright 2010 NPR. I feel that Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali are two of the, you know, greatest Americans we've ever had. 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. 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! 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. 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. I'm Neal Conan. Soon we would be paying almost the full costs of this tragic attempt at recolonization. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War Speech Analysis Sorry, I'm a little bit emotional here. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Zinn Education Project People And Peace Not Profits And War Rhetorical Devices MLK Opposed "Poverty, Racism & Militarism" in Speech One Year Before 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. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. What do they think as we test our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? 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. 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. In "People and Peace, not Profits and War," Shirley Chisholm repeats the words "two more years" (42). We have cooperated in the crushing of the nations only non-Communist revolutionary political force the unified Buddhist church. In so many words, powerful interests told him: "Mind your own business.". $25.00. 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. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live. 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? Excuse me. You can also join the conversation at our Web site. 800-989-8255. The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these? It includes a portion of his speech. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood. At what cost? A complete unit of instruction - include ALL answer documents - comparing and contrasting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X's early lives & speeches.This unit of study, which can be taught as a complete unit, or separated into 13 distinct activities . Challenges of the final years of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Washington Post says he has done a discredit to himself, to his people, to his country. 0000002874 00000 n 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. 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. (1997). This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just. CONAN: Howard, thanks very much for the call. And Walt's with us from Cortez in Colorado. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Challenges of the final years | Britannica 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. 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. 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. n the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on lifes roadside; but that will be only an initial act. JwNt YHiA:{p . A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. Moreover I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. The peasants watched as all this was presided over by U.S. influence and then by increasing numbers of U.S. troops who came to help quell the insurgency that Diems methods had aroused. 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. And Tavis, nice to have you back in the program. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. We most provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country if necessary. Undeterred, King, Spock, and Harry Belafonte led 10,000 demonstrators on an anti-war march to the United Nations on 15 April 1967. He passed the Voting Rights Act. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968) So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. Hundreds of folks listened outside on loudspeakers. Opposes Vietnam War, New York Times, 11 November 1965. Martin Luther King's Most Controversial Speech: Beyond Vietnam - THIRTEEN Procrastination is still the thief of time. There is.a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America. And about a month after that speech was given, I was wounded. Check your local listings. Summary Of Martin Luther King Jr Vietnam Speech | ipl.org 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. 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. Dr. Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence - American Rhetoric These are revolutionary times. 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. 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. 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. 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. 16, 1967 in New York. So, too, with Hanoi. (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. 0000004621 00000 n In 1957 when a group of us formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, we chose as our motto: To save the soul of America. We were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that America would never be free or saved from itself unless the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear. Such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. But there was a great turnout for the speech. So all that we have is less than 10 minutes of video of the speech. Martin Luther King Jr. held his acceptance speech in the auditorium of the University of Oslo on 10 December 1964. Set a date that we will remove all foreign troops from Vietnam in accordance with the 1954 Geneva agreement. [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. On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. 0000002516 00000 n At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. 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. 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. 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. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr ., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, delivers a speech entitled "Beyond Vietnam" in front of 3,000 people at Riverside Church in. King, Excerpts, Address at mass rally on 12 August 1965, 13 August 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. Speeches, writings, movements, and protests, Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. Martin Luther King Jr - n/a - Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King So Martin's advisors basically said, if you are intent on giving the speech, at least allow us to craft a speech and to create a setting that will allow you to speak to clergy members and laity so at least before you get to this rally that we know is going to be controversial, we could at least roll this thing out with a different kind of a crowd. [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. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. And they, as news crews tend to do, they stayed to get just enough B-roll, as we call it Mr. SMILEY: for the news that night. between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. 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. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. CONAN: Well, take us back to 1967. The United States Congress was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. A Comparative Study of Martin Luther King Jr & Malcolm X. by. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: Too late. There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. 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. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. 159. Mr. SMILEY: We - let me just tell you this. We must not engage in a negative anti-communism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. Read The Full Text And Listen To Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" Speech. But what I want - I think the question - I've always thought that Dr. King, that that speech about Vietnam was his best speech in my mind. It makes for an excellent teaching tool for a unit on the Civil Rights Movement, Cold War and Vietnam, or as a bridge to combine the two! And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nations history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. 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. That Vietnam was a mistake. 0000013330 00000 n 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. [24], King's stance on Vietnam encouraged Allard K. Lowenstein, William Sloane Coffin and Norman Thomas, with the support of anti-war Democrats, to attempt to persuade King to run against President Johnson in the 1968 United States presidential election. And there was a 18-year-old black Marine that picked me up since I couldn't walk, got me away from bombs and saved my life. At this point I should make it clear that while I have tried in these last few minutes to give a voice to the voiceless on Vietnam and to understand the arguments of those who are called enemy, I am as deeply concerned about our troops there as anything else. dH(*b(jGB@'k1zTR~{dA9|\b. And thirdly, I think the main point here in this MLK "Beyond Vietnam" speech is that there is another way. 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. Thank you. Because, to your point now, one, I want people to go online and read the speech so you can see the text for yourself. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Some, like civil rights leader Ralph Bunche, the NAACP, and the editorial page writers of The Washington Post[3] and The New York Times[4] called the Riverside Church speech a mistake on King's part. After the French were defeated it looked as if independence and land reform would come again through the Geneva agreements. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech was delivered at the Riverside Church in New York exactly one year before his assassination. MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence - YouTube "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. 0000012562 00000 n 0000001700 00000 n We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise.