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

There were a lot of people inside. We must move past indecision to action. Appreciate it. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is known for being one of the greatest orators of the twentieth century, and perhaps in all of American history. Martin Luther King April 4, 1967 Riverside Church, New York City . 0000002694 00000 n He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. The New York Times calls it wasteful and self-defeating. 0000003454 00000 n And King gives a great speech out of that hospital called "If I Had Sneezed." Now there is little left to build onsave bitterness. He rarely gave speeches from a text. Shall we say the odds are too great? 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. PDF. 0000012541 00000 n BRC-NEWS: Black Radical Congress International News/Alerts/Announcements , Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering speech. 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. A few other Americans know, of course, the "Mountaintop" speech given the night before he's assassinated in Memphis. When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. Before he was assassinated at age 39, the Rev. He supported Johnsons calls for diplomatic negotiations and economic development as the beginnings of such a step. 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. 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. ", In 1967, a year to the day before his death, Martin Luther King, Jr. departed from his message of civil rights to deliver a speech that denounced America's war in Vietnam. Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. ml.K-x1x*tcSO p[ endstream endobj 62 0 obj 720 endobj 63 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 62 0 R >> stream They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News in Washington. 0000044282 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. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call fortified hamlets. 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. During the last year of his life, King worked with Spock to develop Vietnam Summer, a volunteer project to increase grassroots peace activism in time for the 1968 elections. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. 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. Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so fully that he died for them? [citation needed]. In his last Sunday sermon, delivered at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968, King said that he was convinced that [Vietnam] is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world (King, Remaining Awake, 219). Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter but beautifulstruggle for a new world. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. 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: 1. 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 in any future Vietnam government. Dr. They know they must move or be destroyed by our bombs. His tireless work advocating for the end of. King Scores Poverty Budget, New York Times, 16 December 1966. 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. 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. We're talking with Tavis Smiley. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. On April 15, 1967, King participated and spoke at an anti-war march from Manhattan's Central Park to the United Nations. He is best known for helping achieve civil equality for African Americans, but these speeches--selected because they were each presented at a turning point in the . But when he turns the corner and then says, essentially, that Martin's philosophy wouldn't work in today's world, he goes on to say that Dr. King didn't know al-Qaida, as if to suggest that Martin didn't understand evil, that Martin didn't understand violence, that he himself had not been subjected to it. Sorry, I'm a little bit emotional here. Why are you joining the voices of dissent? This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. At the U.N. King also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft. So all that we have is less than 10 minutes of video of the speech. So, that's all I had to say. How are you, sir? 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. 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. CONAN: We (unintelligible) to see it. If you remember the speech, tell us what it meant at that time, and does the principle of nonviolence apply in the age of al-Qaida? It was written by activist and historian Vincent Harding. 2. 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. For nine years we vigorously supported the French in their abortive effort to recolonize Vietnam. What of the National Liberation Front that strangely anonymous group we call VC or Communists? Grossfield, Stan. The speech primarily concerns the Memphis sanitation strike.King calls for unity, economic actions, boycotts, and nonviolent protest, while challenging the United States to live . So they go primarily women and children and the aged. Ken Rudin joins guest host Rebecca Roberts. 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 have no part? 0000023610 00000 n "[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. The True Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Free Press. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King: Beyond Vietnam and Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, 90th Cong., 2d sess., Congressional Record 114 (9 April 1968): 93919397. What liberators? 0000004834 00000 n We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative means of protest possible. I feel that Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali are two of the, you know, greatest Americans we've ever had. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 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. A call for equality and freedom, it became one of the defining moments of the civil rights movement and one of the most iconic speeches in American history. Twin towers were planned from Afghanistan. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. 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. 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. 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. [12] But they asked and rightly so what about Vietnam? Attachment 2: Definitions Attachment 3: King Opposed Vietnam War; We Must Oppose US War in Iraq. 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. 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. 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. 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. And that's the issue that King was raising. n/a martin luther king jr. (born michael king january 15, 1929 april 1968) was an american baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in . CONAN: Indeed, it was Oslo. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence . I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. 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. 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. Of course, he's assassinated in Memphis a year to the day later after giving this speech. [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. Mr. SMILEY: Indeed, he did. A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. 0000002004 00000 n The Riverside Church donated largely with Rockefeller money. 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. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. And thirdly, I think the main point here in this MLK "Beyond Vietnam" speech is that there is another way. 0000010534 00000 n We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. 159. 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. I am pleased to say that this is the path now being chosen by more than seventy students at my own alma mater, Morehouse College, and I recommend it to all who find the American course in Vietnam a dishonorable and unjust one. His speech appears below. [18] He guarded his language in public to avoid being linked to communism by his enemies, but in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism. 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? We had to do a whole lot of work in the booth trying to get that audio right. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Mr. SMILEY: Yeah. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that peace and economic justice were critical to his fight for human rights. 0000003199 00000 n 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. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Of course, again, that philosophy, when the papers got a hold of him the next day, that strategy didn't work so well. 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? Nor is it an attempt to overlook the ambiguity of the total situation and the need for a collective solution to the tragedy of Vietnam. I must cry out when I see war escalated at any point (Opposes Vietnam War). The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. [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. What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this one? So, too, with Hanoi. And he said these three issues of racism and poverty and militarism are going to destroy this nation.