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. Both sides alleged, more or less accurately, that the other side was continuously violating the terms . by Rick Sterling January 16, 2023. 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. 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. King, " The Casualties of the War in Vietnam, " 25 February 1967, CLPAC. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. 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. 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. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. Interior of Riverside Church on W. 120th Street in Manhattan. The only change came from America, as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support. Vietnam spending eviscerated of the Poverty Program 2. Omar Khayyam is right: The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.. 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. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights dont mix, they say. All Rights Reserved. On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr., an enormously influential civil rights activist, conveys his indignant and hopeful thoughts regarding the Vietnam War, in his speech "Beyond Vietnam," by utilizing biblical allusion, anaphora, and use of diction. 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. To Build a Mature Society: The Lasting Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" Speech By Kristopher Burrell At Riverside Church in Harlem on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a blistering and sophisticated critique of U. S. intervention in Vietnam. "I think there . On 4 April, accompanied by Amherst College Professor Henry Commager, Union Theological Seminary President John Bennett, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, at an event sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, King spoke to over 3,000 at New Yorks Riverside Church. So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this One? She was once a tour guide in real life, too. It decided to send money, supplies, and military advisers to help the South Vietnamese g. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. 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. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. << /Contents 62 0 R /MediaBox [ 0 0 612 792 ] /Parent 115 0 R /Resources << /ExtGState << /G3 75 0 R >> /Font << /F4 76 0 R /F5 77 0 R /F6 78 0 R /F7 79 0 R /F9 80 0 R >> /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI ] /XObject << /X10 57 0 R /X12 59 0 R /X14 61 0 R /X8 56 0 R >> >> /StructParents 0 /Type /Page >> I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. Students will read Rev. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism (unquote). When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. KW;UmBkT/k_rvtg+W`Y?eeu,+I$ZkZu?I'}[fXj7vHovEwU=h.87 <3nmVG"5tU]~7M.^5CCJz4 I,lU-}*WI:quZFv%[-p+jbn ST4PS&5DF4Oxy;g '2v!l37GGDv.JKm{e.m+(k/p@ << /Filter /FlateDecode /S 163 /Length 230 >> Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. or 404 526-8968. King urged insteada radical revolution of valuesemphasizing love and justice rather than economic nationalism (King, Beyond Vietnam,157). We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative method of protest possible. During the past ten years, we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which has now justified the presence of U.S. military advisors in Venezuela. The U.S. became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam and those who wanted peace. In the end, Vietnamese communism stopped short of exporting revolution beyond Indochina because its radical character had created enemies . I heard him speak so many times. In the mid-1950s, King led the movement to end segregation and counter prejudice in the . Published January 12, 2023. << /Linearized 1 /L 585080 /H [ 1225 310 ] /O 55 /E 123247 /N 10 /T 584505 >> endobj Equally unclear is why Vietnam decided to begin accepting deportees who arrived in the United States prior to 1995. 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. Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemys point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. King, " Beyond Vietnam, " 4 April 1967, NNRC. << /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 [] >> 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 . A year to the day before his assassination, Martin Luther King publicly and decisively denounced not only the US war in Vietnam but the militarism that enabled the war and undermined American society. Martin Luther King uses persuasive argument in his speeches. This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nations self-defined goals and positions. Tragically, half a century after "Beyond Vietnam," America is still the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, and the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism . 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 . Become a member of THIRTEEN ($5 monthly or $60 annually) and get access to THIRTEEN Passport as our thanks for your support. 55 0 obj The belief of the clergy took the theme of silence is betrayal. Exactly a year later, King was assassinated. 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. baseball font with tail generator Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues 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. We must provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country, if necessary. The speech titled "Beyond Vietnam" is relevant to today's war in Ukraine. King, Interview on Face the Nation, 29 August 1965, RRML-TxTyU. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. 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. If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. 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. 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. 56 0 obj 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. Freedom's Ring: King's "I Have a Dream" Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views. Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? 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. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. The speech is considered a turning point in the public opinions of the Vietnam War. << /BitsPerComponent 8 /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB /ColorTransform 0 /Filter /DCTDecode /Height 609 /Subtype /Image /Type /XObject /Width 1600 /Length 68988 >> Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Perhaps the 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. Also, it must be clear that the leaders of Hanoi considered the presence of American troops in support of the Diem regime to have been the initial military breach of the Geneva Agreement concerning foreign troops. What must they be thinking when they know that we are aware of their control of major sections of Vietnam, and yet we appear ready to allow national elections in which this highly organized political parallel government will not have a part? There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. Recent flashpoints. Dr. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. . . King spoke that afternoon about Though her portions be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. 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. $2.00. stream We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. 'Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence' was delivered by Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967 at a meeting of concerned clergymen and laity at Riverside Church in New York City, New York (Spence). U.S.-Vietnam Trade Bilateral Agreement (US-BTA) was signed in . Martin Luther King Jr. gave many speeches in his lifetime. King,Beyond Vietnam,4 April 1967, NNRC. 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. A Tragedy,Washington Post, 6 April 1967. 54 0 obj By that time the communists and South Vietnamese were already engaged in what journalists labeled the "postwar war.". And of course its always good to come back to Riverside church. On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. w . He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. 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. 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. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? How can they trust us when now we charge them with violence after the murderous reign of Diem and charge them with violence while we pour every new weapon of death into their land? 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. 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. Life expectancy rose from 70.5 to 75.5 years between 1990 and 2020. Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. Decent Essays. P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. Could we blame them for such thoughts? xcbd`g`b``8 "Y& D2 IF>E0y6DrLb`] R3XM-c |)f&!ME 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. Viet Thanh Nguyen on Dr. King's 1967 speech 'Beyond Vietnam' Shall we say the odds are too great? These words, spoken exactly one year to the day before his assassination . I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. %PDF-1.5 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. 9 min read. 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. Answer (1 of 9): There is little evidence that the US sent troops to Vietnam for economic considerations. 3 Pages. 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. King told reporters on Face the Nation that as a minister he hada prophetic functionand asone greatly concerned about the need for peace in our world and the survival of mankind, I must continue to take a stand on this issue(King, 29 August 1965). We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. For 7 reasons: 1. Meanwhile Meanwhile, we in the churches and synagogues have a continuing task while we urge our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment. He spoke at Riverside Church in New York City, a venue that had a history of hosting progressive speakers and thinkers. One speech to show he did this is the "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence" speech. 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 . Now there is little left to build on, save bitterness. Vincent Harding and his first wife, Rosemarie, were friends and colleagues of Martin and Coretta King in the Southern Freedom Movement, directing an interracial voluntary service unit of the Mennonite Church (Mennonite House) in . 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. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. 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. Beyond Vietnam (or Time to End the Silence) . Moreover, I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. Tax ID: 26-2810489. To change course, King suggested a five point outline for stopping the war, which included a call for a unilateral ceasefire. The essence of the speech focused on the war in Vietnam. . King holds the U.S. government and the American people responsible for the Vietnam . Table of Content. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. 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. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. It is not addressed to China or to Russia. endobj King, Martin Luther Jr. "Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam." In Editors of Ramparts with Banning Garrett and Katherine Barkley (Eds.) 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. 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. 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. 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. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. 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. The AMERICAN War had come to define AMERICA in the second half of the 20th century. 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. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. Some great cause, Gods new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight, %# , #&')*)-0-(0%()( C They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within ones own bosom and in the surrounding world. 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. 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. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war. Read on for background on the historic speech, highlights and the speech in in its entirety. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. 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 still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. 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. 4. give the NLF a say in negotiations. 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. #4 New Market. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Rev. 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. Vietnam's Amended Constitution 1992 recognized the role of private sector in the economy. 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. Now they languish under our bombs and consider us, not their fellow Vietnamese, the real enemy. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, WNET is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 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.. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 The United States was most involved in the war from 1959 to 1973 which coincided with the Civil Rights movement. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land. War is not the answer. So, too, with Hanoi. The United States got involved in the Vietnam War because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. against the "triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism." Audio. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end, unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. 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 And so, such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on lifes roadside, but that will be only an initial act. 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. On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. The pro-social justice and anti-war speech were delivered to state MLK's opposition . King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. 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). Iv?'WK4(WUx:mEc>Z:ShY| x_5i_TVov8mTS&YG=^mDHrUrrEWjTTSVSHM]A"mYq-,Hkjf^\@&` |\.xz][WjG9'*&WOyeV_5i#>Z:ShY| x_5igZfS_;nC5. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word (unquote). 1968 was a turning point in U.S. history, a year of triumphs and tragedies, social and political upheavals, that forever changed our country. King, Transformed Nonconformist, Sermon Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 16 January 1966, CSKC. They must see Americans as strange liberators. 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 until the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear. 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. 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. In the air, America reached new heights with NASA's Apollo 8 orbiting the moon and Boeing's 747 jumbo jet's first flight. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( a@" c Good or bad, the US was afraid that communism would spread to South Vietnam and then the rest of Asia. !S4@'rS[c5TcZ,Ay -\t[ mMIf$s958! aoOyeV_5i#>Z:ShY| x_5i,e*q}iaI$r99SE^gBvDO9 U{-gp=95TF*v*:[lrS;Gqk$>T.mO-+[hGoW sTr".[Z>?n{ 6(|oZQ{=+KND|=OU,QW_#n^iya46/u2H-j= These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness. 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. All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live. I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor., 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. 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. 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. Even so, the establishment considered it a shock, a disgrace. 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. Members get extended access to PBS video on demand and more. Did you find this entry while surfing the web? This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala.