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[26], The same year, King nominated Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, but the prize was not awarded to anyone that year. In describing the ways in which the . With that tragic decision we rejected a revolutionary government seeking self-determination, and a government that had been established not by China (for whom the Vietnamese have no great love) but by clearly indigenous forces that included some Communists. Dr. The major speech at Riverside Church in New York City, followed several interviews[2] and several other public speeches in which King came out against the Vietnam War and the policies that created it. The True Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Free Press. 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. But the entire speech, of course, thankfully, was recorded on audio. 0000002025 00000 n I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. ml.K-x1x*tcSO p[ endstream endobj 62 0 obj 720 endobj 63 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 62 0 R >> stream King, Excerpts, Address at mass rally on 12 August 1965, 13 August 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. 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 thousand miles away from its shores. Do you find this information helpful? The initiative to stop it must be ours. [11], King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies, including President Johnson, Billy Graham,[citation needed] union leaders and powerful publishers. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. 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. Email us: talk@npr.org. 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. Those pictures turned Dr. King's stomach. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. 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? 0000002247 00000 n What of the National Liberation Front that strangely anonymous group we call VC or Communists? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history. 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. Fifty-years ago in April 1967, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered one of his most memorable, if not controversial sermons, at Riverside Church just steps away from the Columbia University campus. [28], A portion of this speech is used in the track "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" by Linkin Park, from their 2010 album A Thousand Suns. 0000002964 00000 n 0000011739 00000 n We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. 0000005717 00000 n 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. Is it among these voiceless ones? He passed the Civil Rights Act. "[8] He connected the war with economic injustice, arguing that the country needed serious moral change: A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. And let's see if we can get another caller on the line. Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. (1997). 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 Latin 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. He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. 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. 159. On April 15, 1967, King participated and spoke at an anti-war march from Manhattan's Central Park to the United Nations. So King understood violence. Mr. SMILEY: It's a powerful point made by Clayborne Carson at Stanford who is in charge, as you know, Neal, of the King papers. . Finally, as I try to delineate for you and for myself the road that leads from Montgomery to this place I would have offered all that was most valid if I simply said that I must be true to my conviction that I share with all men the calling to be a son of the living God. Dr. King in a March 25, 1967 antiwar march in Chicago. While his legacy is commonly remembered by his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, we've sourced four powerful, lesser-known speeches from Dr. King to listen to and commemorate . For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. Martin Luther King's Beyond Vietnam Speech is in many ways even more relevant today than in 1967. . However, you argue strongly in the film that it was completely consistent with the nature and the character of Dr. King and something he needed to say. But what I want - I think the question - I've always thought that Dr. King, that that speech about Vietnam was his best speech in my mind. 0000008326 00000 n We had to do a whole lot of work in the booth trying to get that audio right. Legendary civil rights leader Rev. So they go primarily women and children and the aged. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War "The greatest irony and tragedy of all is that our nation, which initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world, is now cast in the. Watch a newsfilm clip of the speech . Kings opposition to the war provoked criticism from members of Congress, the press, and from his civil rights colleagues who argued that expanding his civil rights message to include foreign affairs would harm the black freedom struggle in America. 0000002004 00000 n 0000013309 00000 n Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that peace and economic justice were critical to his fight for human rights. 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. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. But certainly one of the greatest orators of our time. ", After King delivered the speech, Smiley reports, "168 major newspapers the next day denounced him." Of course, he's assassinated in Memphis a year to the day later after giving this speech. We must stop now. We have destroyed their land and their crops. King Scores Poverty Budget, New York Times, 16 December 1966. Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Answering press questions after addressing a Howard University audience on 2 March 1965, King asserted that the war in Vietnam was accomplishing nothing and called for a negotiated settlement (Schuette, King Preaches on Non-Violence). On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. And that's just the Times and the Post. Mr. SMILEY: We - let me just tell you this. Martin Luther King Jr. announced his strong opposition to the war in Vietnam, the media attacked him for straying outside of his civil rights mandate. I've always thought that was, to me, his best speech, his most consequential speech, even better than I have a dream in the mountain top speech. CONAN: Indeed, it was Oslo. Mr. SMILEY: Indeed, he did. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. What do they think as we test our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? WALT (Caller): Yes. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. And so the question was, Martin, why would you antagonize the president who has been our friend? President Obama, this is one campaign promise that he has kept. No, Howard, I thank you for your phone call. Martin Luther King April 4, 1967 Riverside Church, New York City . HT0WJ3 O$L between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. We appreciate that. Shall we say the odds are too great? We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. "[22] 800-989-8255, email us talk@npr.org. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both. Appreciate it. 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. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King at Ebenezer Church. 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. 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. 20072023 Blackpast.org. And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond to compassion my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. While they both may have justifiable reason 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. 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. 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 But they didn't stay for the speech in its entirety. Peace and civil rights dont mix, they say. 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.