Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony. 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. Martin Luther King's Speech on Vietnam - Against the Current Harding, a native of Harlem, NYC, received his BA from City College of New York and Masters in Journalism from Columbia University before serving in the US Army (1953-55) and receiving a PhD in History at the University in Chicago in 1965. Moreover, I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. By Matthew Hoh, Counter Punch, January 16, 2023. Omar Khayyam is right: The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.. #6 Low Expenses. #3 Government Support. Martin Luther King Jr., "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? 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. 3. Answer (1 of 9): There is little evidence that the US sent troops to Vietnam for economic considerations. 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. Over the last eight years, I have had the privilege of preaching here almost every year in that period, and it is always a rich and rewarding experience to come to this great church and this great pulpit. 5 steps to get out of Vietnam. King enumerated seven major reasons to bring the war to an end based on moral vision. 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 . A Reflection on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam: A Time The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. Procrastination is still the thief of time. King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. King holds the U.S. government and the American people responsible for the Vietnam . We must provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country, if necessary. . In this speech he use Logos and Pathos. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately, the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horrible, clumsy, and deadly game we have decided to play. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. 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. King's famous speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A time to break the silence," deserves study by antiwar activists and others seeking a better understanding of the battle for economic justice, racial equality and freedom at home and abroad. Photo: Ad Meskens. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam. By that time the communists and South Vietnamese were already engaged in what journalists labeled the "postwar war.". 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. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood. Looking beyond the tip of Vietnam's corruption iceberg P. 206-215. Number two: Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation. We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. (1967) Martin Luther King, Jr., "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" Here's the essay I wrote in the video: In the speech "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence," Dr. Rev. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. King, Transformed Nonconformist, Sermon Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 16 January 1966, CSKC. 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. The neo-gothic Riverside Church in New York City has a long history of progressive leaders and activism, dating back to its opening in October, 1930. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Then we must make what reparations we can for the damage we have done. MLK: Beyond Vietnam to Ukraine. To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why Im speaking against the war. Three: Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand and our interference in Laos. 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. 3 Pages. 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. 7 reason to bring into his "moral vision". We must rapidly beginwe must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence was actually a collaborative work largely written by a close associate and friend of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Vincent Harding. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. 'beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence' - PlatinumEssays.com 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. This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has a revolutionary spirit. Both sides alleged, more or less accurately, that the other side was continuously violating the terms . P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. And so, such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. '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). According to the PBS documentary MLK: A Call to Conscience (2010), the speech was denounced by 168 newspapers across the country. The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1954 in 1945 rather after a combined French and Japanese occupation and before the communist revolution in China. %PDF-1.5 On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. 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? Decent Essays. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. 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. << /Linearized 1 /L 585080 /H [ 1225 310 ] /O 55 /E 123247 /N 10 /T 584505 >> King's Vietnam speech still holds true 50 years later It was titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." King criticized the war in Vietnam, calling on those of draft age to seek status as conscientious objectors and saying, "we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war." Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor. Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. Open Document. King, " Beyond Vietnam, " 4 April 1967, NNRC. What do they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence argues his stance against the government and their decisions on war. 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. Even so, the establishment considered it a shock, a disgrace. Get a roundup of broadcast and digital premieres, special offers, and events with our weekly newsletter. Five: Set a date that we will remove all foreign troops from Vietnam in accordance with the 1954 Geneva Agreement. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown endobj 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. They must see Americans as strange liberators. The Speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" by Martin Luther % If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight. The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence - Analysis! - EzineArticles All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform. 2. create an unilateral cease fire leading to peace talks. 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. A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. 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, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch antirevolutionaries. << /Filter /FlateDecode /S 163 /Length 230 >> 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. 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. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. 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. Violence of the US government - How can we criticize violence abroad when our own True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. In its April 7 editorial "Dr. King's Error," The New York Times lambasted King for fusing two problems that are "distinct and separate.". 7 Reasons You Should Be Starting a Business in Vietnam - Cekindo.com Watch the Public Broadcasting Laboratory documentary Free at Last: Martin Luther King Jr. (streaming on THIRTEEN Specials), which was being filmed when Dr. King was assassinated and premiered on THIRTEEN just three days after his death. Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of April 4, 1967, now known as the "Beyond Vietnam" speech are such words. King, Interview on Face the Nation, 29 August 1965, RRML-TxTyU. Kings address emphasized his responsibility to the American people and explained that conversations with young black men in the ghettos reinforced his own commitment to nonviolence. 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? It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. When Diem was overthrown they may have been happy, but the long line of military dictators seemed to offer no real change, especially in terms of their need for land and peace. 609 Words. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. 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 . His speech appears below. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. Become a member of THIRTEEN ($5 monthly or $60 annually) and get access to THIRTEEN Passport as our thanks for your support. Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins. Grade 7: MLK and Vietnam - Conservatory Lab Charter School And the choice goes by forever twixt that darkness and that light. Beyond Vietnam Teaching Resources | Teachers Pay Teachers 53 0 obj King spoke that afternoon about Table of Content. To change course, King suggested a five point outline for stopping the war, which included a call for a unilateral ceasefire. 54 0 obj 1. stop all bombing in Vietnam. Kings Error,New York Times, 7 April 1967. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. 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. << /BitsPerComponent 8 /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB /ColorTransform 0 /Filter /DCTDecode /Height 609 /Subtype /Image /Type /XObject /Width 1600 /Length 68988 >> Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 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. 56 0 obj On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on lifes roadside, but that will be only an initial act. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition. 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. A true revolution of values will lay hands 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 veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.. 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?

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