He spoke at Riverside Church in New York City, a venue that had a history of hosting progressive speakers and thinkers. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. Here's the video. 54 0 obj . 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. Due to the Vietnam War is that plenty of individuals, both Americans and Vietnamese were killed. In this speech he use Logos and Pathos. Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. 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. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem. We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise. 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? #1 Strong Economic Growth Rates. So, too, with Hanoi. We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children. Christina Knight is Managing Editor of Institutional Marketing at The WNET Group. In the air, America reached new heights with NASA's Apollo 8 orbiting the moon and Boeing's 747 jumbo jet's first flight. 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. @ !V*k*im+R{Q\4b^`j+j/A8U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;muR`o|?h:07o"PI'}x~@U&|NB% []Tw7L ;wap~#65UXG9tMU G^> `j+j/A9~NT de#(~y{Jtp m`j+j/A8P qGqe#(~ b_mE@ VYVQov:j}\z8M?tiiibEkF5Qup6cbczB9 uUa But this encouraging shift does not reflect a seismic corruption case relating to COVID testing kits that came to light in the last days of 2021. 1968 was a turning point in U.S. history, a year of triumphs and tragedies, social and political upheavals, that forever changed our country. They ask how we can speak of free elections when the Saigon press is censored and controlled by the military junta. In the strife of truth and Falsehood, for the good or evil side; They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. His indictment of the U.S. government and the war became known as The Riverside Church Speech and it was criticized by media from The New York Times to the Washington Post, and by groups such as the NAACP, which objected to the Civil Rights Movement weighing in on the war and joining anti-war protests. The fall of South Vietnam. We have destroyed their land and their crops. Now let us begin. In the speech at Riverside Church, King talked about how the US had supported France in trying to re-colonize . There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Since I am a preacher by calling, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. #6 Low Expenses. He disagreed with America going to war in Vietnam in 1955 and to voice his thoughts he wrote and delivered his speech "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence." which took place at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967 to let his audience know that the Vietnam War is unjust. Equally unclear is why Vietnam decided to begin accepting deportees who arrived in the United States prior to 1995. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown And yet I swear this oath Martin Luther King uses persuasive argument in his speeches. 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. So we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would never live on the same block in Detroit. As that noble bard of yesterday, James Russell Lowell, eloquently stated: Once to every man and nation comes a moment to decide, 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 say we must enter that struggle, but I wish to go on now to say something even more disturbing. 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. 5 steps to get out of Vietnam. Beyond Vietnam Ethos Pathos Logos. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life? Why did Rev. This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. The U.S. became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam and those who wanted peace. Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? !1V"7AQau2TUqt#46BRrs35b$e%CSFc&d ? Martin Luther King April 4, 1967 Riverside Church, New York City Martin Luther King - Beyond Vietnam - 1967 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Volume 90% 00:00 51:49 Martin Luther King - Beyond Vietnam - 1967 Topics Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam, war, social justice, peace * Reverend Martin Luther King * Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence * April 4, 1967 * If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. 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 New York. In the end, Vietnamese communism stopped short of exporting revolution beyond Indochina because its radical character had created enemies . How do they judge us when our officials know that their membership is less than twenty-five percent communist, and yet insist on giving them the blanket name? 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. The peasants watched and cringed as Diem ruthlessly rooted out all opposition, supported their extortionist landlords, and refused even to discuss reunification with the North. 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. 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. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. 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. To King, however, the Vietnam War was only the most pressing symptom of American colonialism worldwide. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. King, a gifted speaker who normally wouldnt read from text, did read out Beyond Vietnam because he planned to submit it to publications and did not want to be misquoted. 1. stop all bombing in Vietnam. Members get extended access to PBS video on demand and more. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. Is our nation planning to build on political myth again, and then shore it up upon the power of new violence? #7 Infrastructure Development. P. 206-215. 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. Please c, ontact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. at. The speech is considered a turning point in the public opinions of the Vietnam War. 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. See transcript of full speech, below. We must continue to raise our voices and our lives if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam. 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 Time to Break Silence, given at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967. 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. 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 . 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. King spoke that afternoon about A true revolution of values will lay hand 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 the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. King had stepped up his anti-war proclamations on February 25, 1967, when he appeared at a convention in Beverly Hills, California. Though the cause of evil prosper, yet tis truth alone is strong The legacy of his speech is reflected inThe Vietnam War, an 18-hour series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (streaming to PBS station members). He drafted several speeches for King over the years and eventually became the first director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center. 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. 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. America will be! This kind of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism. 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. The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. 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. . 9 min read. They question our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded. We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness, for it grows out of my experience in the ghettoes of the North over the last three years especially the last three summers. 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. dVb+==*7O5yM^sN/3 ? 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. King enumerated seven major reasons to bring the war to an end based on moral vision. I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor. Fall of Saigon during Vietnam War. By Matthew Hoh, Counter Punch, January 16, 2023. #2 Young, Skilled Population. Mandy Jackson A Time to Break Silence On April 4,1967, in Riverside Church, New York City Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers a speech called Beyond Vietnam He initiates, "War is not the answer. Not only were they fighting for their own rights in 1976, but they were sending away the son, husbands, brothers of other Americans thousands of miles away to the country of Vietnam to fight an unjust war for the rights of the people in Southeast Asia. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. 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. Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech that startled even many of his supporters in the Civil Rights Movement. Interior of Riverside Church on W. 120th Street in Manhattan. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood. 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. Both the Washington Post and New York Times published editorials criticizing the speech, with the Post noting that Kings speech haddiminished his usefulness to his cause, to his country, and to his peoplethrough a simplistic and flawed view of the situation (A Tragedy,6 April 1967). After 1954 they watched us conspire with Diem to prevent elections which could have surely brought Ho Chi Minh to power over a united Vietnam, and they realized they had been betrayed again. 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.. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has a revolutionary spirit. 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. . We must stop now. I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. 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. All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform. 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. Dr. 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. 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. #3 Government Support. King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. stream 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?