Students will read Rev. In 1957, a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. Communist China did not spread communism beyond Vietnam [Laos and Cambodia]. Part of our ongoing Part of our ongoing commitment might well express itself in an offer to grant asylum to any Vietnamese who fears for his life under a new regime which included the Liberation Front. 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? xcbd`g`b``8 "Y& D2 IF>E0y6DrLb`] R3XM-c |)f&!ME Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. While they both may have justifiable reasons to be suspicious of the good faith of the United States, life and history give eloquent testimony to the fact that conflicts are never . Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of April 4, 1967, now known as the "Beyond Vietnam" speech are such words. Christina Knight is Managing Editor of Institutional Marketing at The WNET Group. 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. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated, as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: Let us love one another, for love is God. King, Interview on Face the Nation, 29 August 1965, RRML-TxTyU. In Dr. Martin Luther King's speech "Beyond VietnamA Time to Break Silence" (1967), Dr. King asserts that the war in Vietnam is totally immoral and has far reaching negative implications not only for Vietnam, but for The United States and the rest of the World as well. Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? The speech is considered a turning point in the public opinions of the Vietnam War. English "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence", also referred as Riverside Church speech, is an anti-Vietnam war and pro- social justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1967. Here's the essay I wrote in the video: In the speech "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence," Dr. Rev. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. 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. Dr. King choose to speak out against the war in Vietnam? 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 . 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. MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change 251K views 7 years ago William Pepper - The Execution of Martin Luther King. 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). #2 Young, Skilled Population. 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. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. 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. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. I say it plain, endobj Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The United States got involved in the Vietnam War because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. I also want to say that I consider it a great honor to share this program with Dr. Bennett, Dr. Commager, and Rabbi Heschel, and some of the distinguished leaders and personalities of our nation. Perhaps the 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. 3. 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. Vietnam's universal health coverage index is at 73higher than regional and global averageswith 87 percent of the population covered. 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. << /Type /XRef /Length 100 /Filter /FlateDecode /DecodeParms << /Columns 5 /Predictor 12 >> /W [ 1 3 1 ] /Index [ 51 91 ] /Info 74 0 R /Root 53 0 R /Size 142 /Prev 584506 /ID [] >> The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood it ebbs. San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1971. 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. 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. Life expectancy rose from 70.5 to 75.5 years between 1990 and 2020. Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. against the "triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism." Audio. 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. Now they languish under our bombs and consider us, not their fellow Vietnamese, the real enemy. Omar Khayyam is right: The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. #7 Infrastructure Development. #5 Free Trade Agreements. 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 South 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. In the 1967 speech, "Beyond Vietnam", the author, activist Martin Luther King jr, states reasons why America needs to end their involvement in the Vietnam War. 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. During this time period there was a lot of controversy surrounding the war. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that "I think there . (Doi Moi) from 1986 to 2006. 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. 5. set a date to remove all foreign troops. Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech that startled even many of his supporters in the Civil Rights Movement. While they both may have justifiable reasons 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. 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. 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 * We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. North Vietnam's war profoundly divided American citizens, seriously damaged American credibility around the world, and lent moral support to many radical movements in Africa and Latin America. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. We must rapidly beginwe must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. !S4@'rS[c5TcZ,Ay -\t[ mMIf$s958! aoOyeV_5i#>Z:ShY| x_5i,e*q}iaI$r99SE^gBvDO9 U{-gp=95TF*v*:[lrS;Gqk$>T.mO-+[hGoW sTr".[Z>?n{ 6(|oZQ{=+KND|=OU,QW_#n^iya46/u2H-j= They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. << /Contents 62 0 R /MediaBox [ 0 0 612 792 ] /Parent 115 0 R /Resources << /ExtGState << /G3 75 0 R >> /Font << /F4 76 0 R /F5 77 0 R /F6 78 0 R /F7 79 0 R /F9 80 0 R >> /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI ] /XObject << /X10 57 0 R /X12 59 0 R /X14 61 0 R /X8 56 0 R >> >> /StructParents 0 /Type /Page >> For 7 reasons: 1. 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. In 1967, however, Beyond Vietnam ignited an uproar. 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. 4. give the NLF a say in negotiations. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. King views the Vietnam war as only a symptom of a disease that is affecting America and the American spirit. The Washington Post criticized his "sheer inventions of unsupported fantasy" and lamented how "many who have listened to him with respect will never again accord him the same confidence . 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 . 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. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of concerned clergy and laity at Riverside Church in New York City, New York. Let us not join those who shout war . They question our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded. . dVb+==*7O5yM^sN/3 ? 2. create an unilateral cease fire leading to peace talks. King, " Beyond Vietnam, " 4 April 1967, NNRC. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown And yet I swear this oath Even so, the establishment considered it a shock, a disgrace. What must they think of the United States of 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? Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. He who lives with untruth lives in spiritual slavery. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. King used his famous oration skills to point out the hypocrisy of U.S. foreign affairs in view of the sorry domestic state of equality in America. Is our nation planning to build on political myth again, and then shore it up upon the power of new violence? Follow along with the transcript, below. Become a member of THIRTEEN ($5 monthly or $60 annually) and get access to THIRTEEN Passport as our thanks for your support. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing 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. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. The actual speech begins at 1:41 in the recording. Vietnam's Amended Constitution 1992 recognized the role of private sector in the economy. I still think this is probably the best., It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. King, " The Casualties of the War in Vietnam, " 25 February 1967, CLPAC. 3 Pages. PBS talk show host Tavis. The essence of the speech focused on the war in Vietnam. 3. stop the creation of battlefield in Laos and Thailand. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. They remind us that they did not begin to send troops in large numbers and even supplies into the South until American forces had moved into the tens of thousands. Then we must make what reparations we can for the damage we have done. We must provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country, if necessary. 56 0 obj The only change came from America, as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores, and thereby speed the day when every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.. Freedom is still the bonus we receive for knowing the truth. Four: 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 any future Vietnam government. 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. 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. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. Senator Barry Goldwater (AZ), the Republican Party presidential nominee in 1964, said the speech could border a bit on treason., Civil Rights activist and U.S. Representative John Lewis (GA), who was among the 3,800 in the audience when King gave the speech, told the New Yorker Magazine in 2017 that the speech was a speech for all humanityfor the world community. In April 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an eloquent and stirring denunciation of the Vietnam war and US militarism. P. 206-215. Infant mortality rates fell from 32.6 per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 16.7 in 2020. On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. King spoke that afternoon about The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. 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. The speech titled "Beyond Vietnam" is relevant to today's war in Ukraine. 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. ZIP FILE INCLUDES: 4 page worksheet with MLK's "Beyond Vietnam" Speech (PDF)Worksheet Answer KeyTeacher directions with ideas for useCHECK OUT THE . I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. 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. % 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. $2.00. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.. It was used in journalism as a euphemism for recognized lies told to the public by . 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. And so we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would hardly live on the same block in Chicago. 5 steps to get out of Vietnam. 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. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war. Now let us begin. We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. Did you find this entry while surfing the web? 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 hundred rather, eight thousand miles away from its shores. Somehow this madness must cease. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism (unquote). Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. In the mid-1950s, King led the movement to end segregation and counter prejudice in the . 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? According to the PBS documentary MLK: A Call to Conscience (2010), the speech was denounced by 168 newspapers across the country. In Dr. Martin Luther King's speech "Beyond VietnamA Time to Break Silence" (1967), Dr. King asserts that the war in Vietnam is totally immoral and has far reaching negative implications not only for Vietnam, but for The United States and the rest of the World as well. 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. 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. Published January 12, 2023. Shall we say the odds are too great? 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. Now there is something seductively tempting about stopping there and sending us all off on what in some circles has become a popular crusade against the war in Vietnam. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? @ !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 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. Harding recalled in an interview with Tavis Smiley, Free at Last: Martin Luther King Jr. (streaming on THIRTEEN Specials). They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. Dr. Tonight, however, I wish not to speak with Hanoi and the National Liberation Front, but rather to my fellow Americans. endobj I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor. . The fall of South Vietnam. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that As we counsel young men concerning military service, we must clarify for them our nations role in Vietnam and challenge them with the alternative of conscientious objection. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who embraced nonviolence to combat the country's most violent segregationists. Beyond Vietnam Ethos Pathos Logos. Equally unclear is why Vietnam decided to begin accepting deportees who arrived in the United States prior to 1995. They ask if our own nation wasnt using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. 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. Though the cause of evil prosper, yet tis truth alone is strong . At the time, it was most frequently used to describe public scepticism about the Lyndon B. Johnson administration's statements and policies on the Vietnam War. Good or bad, the US was afraid that communism would spread to South Vietnam and then the rest of Asia. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. King claimed that America madepeaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments(King,Beyond Vietnam,157). MLK: Beyond Vietnam to Ukraine. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. We must stop now. King delivered a speech entitled " Beyond Vietnam ," pointing out that the war effort was "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" (King, " Beyond Vietnam ," 143). When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? They ask how we can speak of free elections when the Saigon press is censored and controlled by the military junta. 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? And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. Members get extended access to PBS video on demand and more. MLK: Beyond Vietnam to Ukraine. 1. punished the poor. In 1957 when a group of us formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, we chose as our motto: To save the soul of America. We were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that America would never be free or saved from itself until the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. 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. Soon we would be paying almost the full costs of this tragic attempt at recolonization. They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs. << /Linearized 1 /L 585080 /H [ 1225 310 ] /O 55 /E 123247 /N 10 /T 584505 >> The U.S. became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam and those who wanted peace. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us. Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on.
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