martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript

0000003996 00000 n Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? We most provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country if necessary. 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. Moreover I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. 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. "[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. 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. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War Speech Analysis 0000002605 00000 n 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. HT0WJ3 O$L This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit. 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. Those pictures turned Dr. King's stomach. [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. But I'm hoping that people will get a chance, once they see the speech, they'll be moved to go read the speech and to make comparisons, Neal. 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. In describing the ways in which the . So it was a great turnout. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. Of course, the Nobel Peace Laureate, a man who clearly believed in nonviolence down to his very soul CONAN: but he'd wanted to give that speech two years earlier. Such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. 0000002874 00000 n King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech was delivered at the Riverside Church in New York exactly one year before his assassination. Now there is little left to build onsave bitterness. 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. He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. Full text of speech. 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. Legendary civil rights leader Rev. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 Some 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington. What of the National Liberation Front that strangely anonymous group we call VC or Communists? The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example, issued a statement against merging the civil rights and peace movements. 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.. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Mr. SMILEY: That's right. PBS talk show. He rarely gave speeches from a text. 50 Years Ago: Dr. King's Anti-War Sermon at Riverside Church He was one of the most important and influential Civil Rights leaders in the 1950s and 1960s. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. 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. 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. Dr. King And Malcolm X Teaching Resources | TPT I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Of course, again, that philosophy, when the papers got a hold of him the next day, that strategy didn't work so well. We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. In "People and Peace, not Profits and War," Shirley Chisholm repeats the words "two more years" (42). 0000003199 00000 n 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. Dr. King is trying to get the point across that our country is being unfair to others. Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), African American founding fathers of the United States, Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. (Pueblo, Colorado), Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco. 0000004621 00000 n But instead there came the United States, determined that Ho should not unify the temporarily divided nation, and the peasants watched again as we supported one of the most vicious modern dictators our chosen man, Premier Diem. The problem was that practically everyone in his inner circle - not all, there was James Bevel and a couple of others - but practically everyone in his inner circle advised him strongly not to give this speech. 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. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. "This was a huge, huge speech," he continues, "that got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done. (1997). Due to the Vietnam War is that plenty of individuals, both Americans and Vietnamese were killed. 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. 0000008347 00000 n 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. 0000004834 00000 n When the Rev. 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. Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation. The Washington Post says he has done a discredit to himself, to his people, to his country. 0000009168 00000 n Martin Luther King, Jr. utilizes figurative to emphasize the inhumanity and immorality of the war. 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. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. 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. CONAN: Walt, thank you. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. 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. I Have a Dream, speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., that was delivered on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington. President Obama, this is one campaign promise that he has kept. 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. A Comparative Study of Martin Luther King Jr & Malcolm X. by. Martin Luther King's Speech Against the Vietnam War If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. "[24] King quoted a United States official who said that from Vietnam to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. 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. 0000006515 00000 n CONAN: We (unintelligible) to see it. It basically ruined their working relationship. 0000008326 00000 n 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. James L. Bevel dies at 72; civil rights activist and top lieutenant to King", "Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable", "The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr", "Why Martin Luther King Didn't Run for President", "Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master and Political Reformer, Dies at 95", "The Story Of King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech", "Dragons, legos, and solitary: Ai Weiwei's transformative Alcatraz exhibition", Full transcript of the speech from Commondreams.org. And at that march, he knew there would be people, as you point out in the film, waving Vietnamese flags and chanting CONAN: Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, NLF is going to win, and that sort of thing and it would clearly be taken in a very different context. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Beyond Vietnam" - Zinn Education Project Had the president stopped by giving Martin King his just respect - as he did, to his credit - it would have been okay. 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. And so he does in New York City. I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. 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. 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. That's what set so many of them off. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poorboth black . 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. CONAN: We're talking with Tavis Smiley about his PBS special, "Tavis Smiley Reports MLK: A Call to Conscience." On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. 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. Their questions are frighteningly relevant. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose. Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is this vocation of sonship and brotherhood, and because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned especially for his suffering and helpless and outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? [11], King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies, including President Johnson, Billy Graham,[citation needed] union leaders and powerful publishers. On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. The great initiative in this war is ours. Beyond Vietnam: The MLK speech that caused an uproar - USA TODAY CONAN: Indeed. Martin Luther King's Most Controversial Speech: Beyond Vietnam - THIRTEEN King Scores Poverty Budget, New York Times, 16 December 1966. And I think most Americans know the "I Have A Dream" speech. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. 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? 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. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave a speech that may have helped put a target on . But two, to the audio, there are only less than 10 minutes of this speech that got covered. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. HOWARD: How are you doing, Tavis? Tomorrow, the latest installment with the political junkie. *];\n~~/iQ|h Q King delivered a speech entitled Beyond Vietnam, pointing out that the war effort was 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 (King, Beyond Vietnam, 143). No, Howard, I thank you for your phone call. 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. 1967 speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 4 April 1967. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. 0000005717 00000 n 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. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? M ost Americans remember Martin Luther King Jr. for his dream of what this country could be, a nation where his children would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content. 0000002004 00000 n On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a controversial sermon opposing the Vietnam War at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, then helped lead a large antiwar march from Central Park to the United Nations later that month. But they didn't stay for the speech in its entirety. 0000011739 00000 n Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Nevertheless, I am in a different position as the president of the United States. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. AFP/AFP/Getty Images 0000005696 00000 n And King had preached at this church any number of times before, of course. It was written by activist and historian Vincent Harding. 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. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. "[24] King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America", and said that the U.S. should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution. That's what I feel. 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. 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. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Challenges of the final years | Britannica The True Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Free Press. Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life? 0000009985 00000 n Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions we initiated. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. In that address, he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. 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. 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. MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence - YouTube Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War - The Atlantic True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. He criticized the Vietnam War and praised Muhammad Ali for being a conscientious objector. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr.. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Rev. In this speech, he opposes violence and militarism, particularly the war in Vietnam. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. Mr. SMILEY: Yeah. Hundreds of folks listened outside on loudspeakers. Du Bois to Coretta Scott King: The Untold History of the Movement to Ban the Bomb. Dr. King in a March 25, 1967 antiwar march in Chicago. CONAN: "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks out against the war - HISTORY Dr. My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness, for it grows out of my experience in the ghettoes of the North over the last three years especially the last three summers. 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. trailer << /Size 93 /Info 36 0 R /Root 40 0 R /Prev 148547 /ID[<8f2b4dd6f2f061944c7ff807c44fcc1f><651247ae294a1a197a948cb3bc3f8412>] >> startxref 0 %%EOF 40 0 obj << /Type /Catalog /Pages 38 0 R /Metadata 37 0 R /Threads 41 0 R /Names 43 0 R /OpenAction [ 44 0 R /XYZ null null null ] /PageMode /UseNone /PageLabels 35 0 R >> endobj 41 0 obj [ 42 0 R ] endobj 42 0 obj << /I << /Title (A)>> /F 45 0 R >> endobj 43 0 obj << /Dests 33 0 R >> endobj 91 0 obj << /S 76 /E 200 /L 216 /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 92 0 R >> stream BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. Martin Luther King Jr - n/a - Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King King, Excerpts, Address at mass rally on 12 August 1965, 13 August 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 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." CONAN: Well, take us back to 1967. 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. Vietnam War - The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute 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. JwNt YHiA:{p . A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. Jazmyn Ford. "[14][15], The "Beyond Vietnam" speech reflected King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center, with which he was affiliated. Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? Let us not join those who shout war and through their misguided passions urge the United States to relinquish its participation in the United Nations. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech in New York. Vietnam War | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute Vietnam War Event May 11, 1961 to April 30, 1975 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. 0000023610 00000 n Speeches, writings, movements, and protests, Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. The initiative to stop it must be ours. 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. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. 0000003454 00000 n This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News in Washington. 0000002694 00000 n We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. 0000012541 00000 n And we are spending money for a war abroad that ought to be spent for the war on poverty here at home. Smiley continues, "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. Appreciate it. And thirdly, I think the main point here in this MLK "Beyond Vietnam" speech is that there is another way. 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. . 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. 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. This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Check your local listings. 0000002516 00000 n 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. Check your local listings. PDF Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence - hawaii.edu 0000009147 00000 n These are revolutionary times. His wife, Coretta Scott King, on the other hand, critiqued the war publicly for years before her husband did. On the evening of April 4, 1967, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King lent his full-throated oratory to a growing chorus of opposition to the rapidly expanding American role in the Vietnam War. His speech appears below. 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. King led his first anti-war march in Chicago on 25 March 1967, and reinforced the connection between war abroad and injustice at home: The bombs in Vietnam explode at homethey destroy the dream and possibility for a decent America (Dr. 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. 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. [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. Mr. SMILEY: Neal, thank you for the opportunity. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. His house was bombed. 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. 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 press is being stacked against me", King said,[13] (2)] Excuse me. Martin Luther King Jr. - Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building?

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