Attachment 4: Are We Ready to Listen to Dr. King? Dr. Benjamin Spock (2nd-L), Martin Luther King, Jr. (C), Father Frederick Reed and Cleveland Robinson lead a huge pacifist rally protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war, Mar. 0000003503 00000 n
Sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. "Vincent Harding dies at 82; historian wrote controversial King speech", "Vincent Harding, author of Martin Luther King Jr.'s antiwar speech, dies", "The Rev. What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this one? How can they believe in our integrity when now we speak of aggression from the north as if there were nothing more essential to the war? Nevertheless, I am in a different position as the president of the United States. They see the children, degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. 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. 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. A few other Americans know, of course, the "Mountaintop" speech given the night before he's assassinated in Memphis. 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. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech was delivered at the Riverside Church in New York exactly one year before his assassination. 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. The True Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Free Press. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live. [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. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. I feel that Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali are two of the, you know, greatest Americans we've ever had. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King at Ebenezer Church. And they, as news crews tend to do, they stayed to get just enough B-roll, as we call it Mr. SMILEY: for the news that night. 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. 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 . 0000003199 00000 n
So King understood violence. Ho Chi Minh has watched as America has spoken of peace and built up its forces, and now he has surely heard of the increasing international rumors of American plans for an invasion of the north. So, that's all I had to say. The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality we will find ourselves organizing clergy- and laymen . It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. or 404 526-8968. Such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. 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. 5. At what cost? When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. Rev. Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions we initiated. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.. He did say he was going to increase troop levels in Afghanistan, so he's kept that promise. The question is, is it a war of necessity or a war of choice at this point? The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? The peasants watched and cringed as Diem ruthlessly routed out all opposition, supported their extortionist landlords and refused even to discuss reunification with the north. We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? "This was a huge, huge speech," he continues, "that got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done. I'm Neal Conan. 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 1964; and I cannot forget that the Nobel Prize for Peace 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. 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. We must continue to raise our voices if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1945 after a combined French and Japanese occupation, and before the Communist revolution in China. 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. "[22] So it was a great turnout. 0000004834 00000 n
That Vietnam was a mistake. (Unintelligible) on this program about, you know, the chances he took and even, you know, speaking truth to power to LBJ helped him so much in civil rights. It is not addressed to China or to Russia. . We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. [citation needed], One of the eight "sound cells" in @Large, Ai Weiwei's 201415 exhibit at Alcatraz, features King's voice giving the "Beyond Vietnam" speech. Now let us begin. Do you find this information helpful? Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. In December 1966, testifying before a congressional subcommittee on budget priorities, King argued for a rebalancing of fiscal priorities away from Americas obsession with Vietnam and toward greater support for anti-poverty programs at home (Semple, Dr. 0000002964 00000 n
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. Mr. SMILEY: Neal, thank you for the opportunity. 0000002004 00000 n
And what really got him to the point of figuring that he really, really had to address this again back to the children, he couldn't say to young folks in this country who were being denied, that they should engage nonviolence as a philosophy when he saw the children, when he saw these pictures of these Vietnamese children being bombed and the impact - the effect that napalm was having on their bodies. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. 0000009147 00000 n
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Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. Afghanistan, not so much. 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. 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. The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. So he was no longer on that particular list. [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. 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. $25.00. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. The great initiative in this war is ours. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? 0000013309 00000 n
Thank you. "The press is being stacked against me", King said,[13] [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. Surely we must understand their feelings even if we do not condone their actions. Later that year King framed the issue of war in Vietnam as a moral issue: As a minister of the gospel, he said, I consider war an evil. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example, issued a statement against merging the civil rights and peace movements. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. I say we must enter the struggle, but I wish to go on now to say something even more disturbing. 0000006515 00000 n
The peasants watched as all this was presided over by U.S. influence and then by increasing numbers of U.S. troops who came to help quell the insurgency that Diems methods had aroused. 0000044282 00000 n
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We must move past indecision to action. 2. 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? We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative means of protest possible. Now there is little left to build onsave bitterness. 0000002784 00000 n
It was written by activist and historian Vincent Harding. CONAN: "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. 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. If Dr. King were to say to the organizers of these events, I'd like to show up at your church on Sunday morning, at your rally this weekend, and here's what I want to say, there is a good argument to be made that Dr. King himself might not be welcome - might not be allowed to say what was in his heart, what his conscience really was, given the political correctness of the world that we live in today. [citation needed] Content [ edit] When the Rev. JwNt
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. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. Appreciate it. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers. 0000009964 00000 n
King, Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, in A Knock at Midnight, ed. "[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. *];\n~~/iQ|h Q Or will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world a world that borders on our doors. 0000004621 00000 n
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. We must not engage in a negative anti-communism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. In describing the ways in which the . He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. So they go primarily women and children and the aged. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. %PDF-1.3
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Exactly one year before his assassination, on April 4, 1967, Rev. [27], In 2010, PBS commentator Tavis Smiley said that the speech was the most controversial speech of King's career, and the one he "labored over the most". This kind of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism. "[9] He stated that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands", and accused the U.S. of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children. Legendary civil rights leader Rev. Mr. SMILEY: Well, I think the question is whether or not - I hear your point, Neal, and I take it. [6] At the urging of people such as SCLC's former Director of Direct Action and now the head of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, James Bevel, and inspired by the outspokenness of Muhammad Ali,[7] King eventually agreed to publicly oppose the war as opposition was growing among the American public. 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. Carson and Holloran, 1998. Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed 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. 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. Let me say this right quick: The comparisons between what King was addressing then about militarism, poverty and racism sound familiar 45 years later. The United States Congress was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. Undeterred, King, Spock, and Harry Belafonte led 10,000 demonstrators on an anti-war march to the United Nations on 15 April 1967. "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand and our interference in Laos. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers. Some 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington. 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. Martin Luther King, Jr., giving his speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence at Riverside Church in NYC, April 4, 1967. Beyond Vietnam: The MLK speech that caused an uproar. It was, to your earlier point, the most controversial speech he ever gave. That's what I feel. 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. Mr. TAVIS SMILEY (Host, "The Tavis Smiley Show"): Neal, always an honor to be on with you. King Leads Chicago). Well, it was taken in that context, anyway. But the entire speech, of course, thankfully, was recorded on audio. American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr: A Time to Break Silence (Declaration Against the Vietnam War) M artin L uther K ing, J r. Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City [Photo Credit: John C. Goodwin] [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. Mr. SMILEY: Indeed he did, Neal. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. 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. So 60 year(ph) is really, really a hot year here around this particular issue. Howard's calling us from South Bend. 1967 speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. CONAN: Walt, thank you. That's my own personal assessment. 3. It's a powerful refrain, Neal, about what would've happened in his life, what he would've missed if he had sneezed at that very moment. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence . 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. But they didn't stay for the speech in its entirety. And when you see the piece on "Lens" tonight that's the part of the speech that set off so many of those who are in King's inner circle, so many scholars who have written about King. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poorboth black . The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. 0000011437 00000 n
On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. In this speech, he opposes violence and militarism, particularly the war in Vietnam. 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. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. In "People and Peace, not Profits and War," Shirley Chisholm repeats the words "two more years" (42). Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue 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. Due to the Vietnam War is that plenty of individuals, both Americans and Vietnamese were killed. And thirdly, I think the main point here in this MLK "Beyond Vietnam" speech is that there is another way. Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist that led the Civil Rights Movement, and other movements until his assassination in 1968. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. 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. Paul A. Schuette, King Preaches on Non-Violence at Police-Guarded Howard Hall, Washington Post, 3 March 1965. Mr. SMILEY: And therein lies the rub. Recently one of them wrote these words: Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The New York Times editorial suggested that conflating the civil rights movement with the Anti-war movement was an oversimplification that did justice to neither, stating that "linking these hard, complex problems will lead not to solutions but to deeper confusion." All Rights Reserved. Smiley continues, "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. Dr. There were a lot of people inside. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. A few years ago there was a shining moment. 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 agreements concerning foreign troops, and they remind us that they did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had moved into the tens of thousands. And Tavis, nice to have you back in the program. HT0WJ3 O$L (1997). I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both. The Washington Post says he has done a discredit to himself, to his people, to his country. 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. Thanks, as always for your time. PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley's new documentary, MLK: A Call to Conscience explores King's speech. 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. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war.