I would like to suggest five concrete things that our government should do [immediately] to begin the long and difficult process of extricating ourselves from this nightmarish conflict: Number one: End all bombing in North and South Vietnam. 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. 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. << /BitsPerComponent 8 /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB /ColorTransform 0 /Filter /DCTDecode /Height 609 /Subtype /Image /Type /XObject /Width 1600 /Length 68988 >> The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. Being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, Vietnam becomes a strategic place for many foreign entrepreneurs to invest. 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.. The first reason "obvious" and "facile," according to King was the effect of the Vietnam War on the War on Poverty in the United States. P. 206-215. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that Please c, ontact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. at. stream King views the Vietnam war as only a symptom of a disease that is affecting America and the American spirit. The actual speech begins at 1:41 in the recording. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. Photo: Ad Meskens. Students will read Rev. The immediate response to Kings speech was largely negative. In April 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an eloquent and stirring denunciation of the Vietnam War and US militarism. Kings Error,New York Times, 7 April 1967. Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions that we initiated. #7 Infrastructure Development. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. The peasants watched as all this was presided over by United States influence and then by increasing numbers of United States troops who came to help quell the insurgency that Diems methods had aroused. The movement against the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War began in the U.S. with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. Some of the incidents . 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. King holds the U.S. government and the American people responsible for the Vietnam . 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. On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. For 7 reasons: 1. Read on for background on the historic speech, highlights and the speech in in its entirety. 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? Introduction Martin Luther King, Jr in his speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" argued that US foreign policy was hypocritical when compared to the inequality present in the United States. 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. 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. In 1967, however, Beyond Vietnam ignited an uproar. MLK's Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. In international conflicts, the truth is hard to come by because most nations are deceived about themselves. 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? The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions. 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. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. 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. 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 in Vietnam and to understand the arguments of those who are called enemy, I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. In April 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an eloquent and stirring denunciation of the Vietnam war and US militarism. 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. King claimed that America madepeaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments(King,Beyond Vietnam,157). In Hanoi are the men who led the nation to independence against the Japanese and the French, the men who sought membership in the French Commonwealth and were betrayed by the weakness of Paris and the willfulness of the colonial armies. The most serious trouble in recent decades has flared between Vietnam and China, and there have also been stand-offs between the Philippines and China. 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. 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. The church maintains an active social justice mission today. He disagreed with America going to war in Vietnam in 1955 and to voice his thoughts he wrote and delivered his speech "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence." which took place at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967 to let his audience know that the Vietnam War is unjust. Before the end of the war we were meeting eighty percent of the French war costs. stream The legacy of his speech is reflected inThe Vietnam War, an 18-hour series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (streaming to PBS station members). by Rick Sterling January 16, 2023. They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. Martin Luther King, Jr., giving his speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence at Riverside Church in NYC, April 4, 1967. 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. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. During this time period there was a lot of controversy surrounding the war. Moreover, I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism (unquote). 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. They will be concerned about Guatemala Guatemala and Peru. The recent statements 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. And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam. #3 Government Support. King spoke that afternoon about They ask if our own nation wasnt using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word (unquote). 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. It decided to send money, supplies, and military advisers to help the South Vietnamese g. There's no pattern, and that's what's so frustrating.". 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 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. Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the One who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. %# , #&')*)-0-(0%()( C 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. King, " The Casualties of the War in Vietnam, " 25 February 1967, CLPAC. But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. 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. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that Perhaps only his sense of humor and of irony can save him when he hears the most powerful nation of the world speaking of aggression as it drops thousands of bombs on a poor, weak nation more than eight hundred rather, eight thousand miles away from its shores. 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. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is a case of getting out of a certain frame of mind, of a way of thinking about ourselves and about the world.. The United States was most involved in the war from 1959 to 1973 which coincided with the Civil Rights movement. 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. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. Credibility gap is a term that came into wide use with journalism, political and public discourse in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. ZIP FILE INCLUDES: 4 page worksheet with MLK's "Beyond Vietnam" Speech (PDF)Worksheet Answer KeyTeacher directions with ideas for useCHECK OUT THE . 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. It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, This is not just. The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. Relevance to U.S. Wars and Militarism Today By Mary Hladky, American Friends Service Committee, KC Program Committee Clerk and United for Peace and Justice, Coordinating Committee Member 50 years ago, on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church, in NYC, Martin Luther King delivered his powerful and most . 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. We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative method of protest possible. Violence of the US government - How can we criticize violence abroad when our own This speech was released by Black Foru. Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. against the "triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism." Audio. Delivered in New York at the height of the Vietnam War in 1967, "Beyond Vietnam" is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s powerful call to America to end the Vietnam War, as well as to change the. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. w . What of the National Liberation Front, that strangely anonymous group we call VC or communists? Here's the video. Perhaps a more difficult but no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as our enemies. 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. The United States got involved in the Vietnam War because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. 53 0 obj % Now let us begin. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. While they both may have justifiable reasons to be suspicious of the good faith of the United States, life and history give eloquent testimony to the fact that conflicts are never resolved without trustful give and take on both sides. Number two: Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Rev. King, Interview on Face the Nation, 29 August 1965, RRML-TxTyU. But this encouraging shift does not reflect a seismic corruption case relating to COVID testing kits that came to light in the last days of 2021. And yet I swear this oath Both sides alleged, more or less accurately, that the other side was continuously violating the terms . It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. And the choice goes by forever twixt that darkness and that light. 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. All Rights Reserved. We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. 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. 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. In the air, America reached new heights with NASA's Apollo 8 orbiting the moon and Boeing's 747 jumbo jet's first flight. Dr. King choose to speak out against the war in Vietnam? They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. 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. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Exactly a year later, King was assassinated. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1971. Mandy Jackson A Time to Break Silence On April 4,1967, in Riverside Church, New York City Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers a speech called Beyond Vietnam He initiates, "War is not the answer. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. I say it plain, King, Interview on Face the Nation, 29 August 1965, RRML-TxTyU. Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life? To King, however, the Vietnam War was only the most pressing symptom of American colonialism worldwide. The AMERICAN War had come to define AMERICA in the second half of the 20th century. So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children. Table of Content. 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. Beyond Vietnam (or Time to End the Silence) . Surely we must understand their feelings, even if we do not condone their actions. But they ask and rightly so what about Vietnam? Is our nation planning to build on political myth again, and then shore it up upon the power of new violence? Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts. Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? After the French were defeated, it looked as if independence and land reform would come again through the Geneva Agreement. There is at the outset a very obvious and 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. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic 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). Fall of Saigon during Vietnam War. 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. We were sending young Black men 8,000 miles away to die for freedoms they don't have at home. The Washington Post criticized his "sheer inventions of unsupported fantasy" and lamented how "many who have listened to him with respect will never again accord him the same confidence . And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. aYej{uOAs/9lo-6'j-gy,=F*9bt,Ukj"h jPIL As Arnold Toynbee says: Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. His speech appears below. Published January 12, 2023. 54 0 obj Martin Luther King Jr. gave many speeches in his lifetime. 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. The Los Angeles speech, calledThe Casualties of the War in Vietnam,stressed the history of the conflict and argued that American power should beharnessed to the service of peace and human beings, not an inhumane power [unleashed] against defenseless people(King, 25 February 1967). 3. Zip. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Jim Meyer 2020, Beyond Vietnam:A Time to Break Silence Abstract "The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war. All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform. They see the children degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. Notably, the economy grew at an average annual rate of 7.5% in 1991-2000 period. Excerpts from "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" Delivered at Riverside Church, New York, April 4, 1967 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. Good or bad, the US was afraid that communism would spread to South Vietnam and then the rest of Asia. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. To speak for them is to explain this lack of confidence in Western words, and especially their distrust of American intentions now. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their governments policy, especially in time of war. Martin Luther King, Jr. makes a compelling case for the proposition that the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War is unjust using ethos (facts and commonly accepted values or ethics), pathos (appeals to emotion through powerful descriptive language), and . endobj Somehow this madness must cease. Harding recalled in an interview with Tavis Smiley, Free at Last: Martin Luther King Jr. (streaming on THIRTEEN Specials). History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate.
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