martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript

The Washington Post says he has done a discredit to himself, to his people, to his country. His wife, Coretta Scott King, on the other hand, critiqued the war publicly for years before her husband did. 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 anti-revolutionaries. We must move past indecision to action. "I've Been to the Mountaintop" is the popular name of the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. King spoke on April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee. CONAN: Indeed. And King was prescient on this. (AFP via Getty Images) "Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King? I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, 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. PDF. Read The Full Text And Listen To Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" Speech. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. 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. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. I would like to suggest five concrete things that our government should do immediately to begin the long and difficult process of extricating ourselves from this nightmarish conflict: 1. 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. 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. 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. Attachment 2: Definitions Attachment 3: King Opposed Vietnam War; We Must Oppose US War in Iraq. A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. War is not the answer. 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. King 's work to eradicate racial segregation was abruptly halted when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. So, too, with Hanoi. Martin Luther King's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, 10 December 1964 Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: 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. Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony. 0000030467 00000 n I must cry out when I see war escalated at any point (Opposes Vietnam War). [12] 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. In describing the ways in which the . 0000003199 00000 n CONAN: We're talking with Tavis Smiley about his PBS special, "Tavis Smiley Reports MLK: A Call to Conscience." M ost Americans remember Martin Luther King Jr. for his dream of what this country could be, a nation where his children would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content. Procrastination is still the thief of time. A few days later, King made it clear that his peace work was not undertaken as the leader of the SCLC, but as an individual, as a clergyman, as one who is greatly concerned about peace (Dr. And they are surely right to wonder what kind of new government we plan to help form without them the only party in real touch with the peasants. Though the cause of evil prosper, Yet tis truth alone is strong; Though her portion be the scaffold, And upon the throne be wrong: Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow Keeping watch above his own. And at that march, he knew there would be people, as you point out in the film, waving Vietnamese flags and chanting CONAN: Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, NLF is going to win, and that sort of thing and it would clearly be taken in a very different context. 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. 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. MLK: Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence - YouTube PBS talk show. 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. He was stabbed at one time. We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. 0000001739 00000 n "[23], King also stated in "Beyond Vietnam" that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. Mr. SMILEY: That's right. 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. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.. King delivered the speech, sponsored by the group Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, after committing to participate in New York's April 15, 1967 anti-Vietnam war march from Central Park to the United Nations, sponsored by the Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam. HdTn0+=3hRnm)zK#-t\|Ha)S The New York Times calls it wasteful and self-defeating. As the head of state, I cannot necessarily embrace the same principles that, as you point out, Martin Luther King, a prophet, an outsider could embrace. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. Copyright 2010 NPR. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks out against the war - HISTORY King Leads Chicago Peace Rally, New York Times, 26 March 1967. They see the children, degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. 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. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. 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. 0000002516 00000 n As Arnold Toynbee says : Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. These are revolutionary times. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. Thanks, as always for your time. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. Accuracy and availability may vary. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history. Let me say this right quick: The comparisons between what King was addressing then about militarism, poverty and racism sound familiar 45 years later. 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.. For as popular as King was, he was a Nobel laureate, there were only one or two news crews who actually came to see the speech that night, Neal. Perhaps the more difficult but no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as our enemies. Howard's calling us from South Bend. Beyond Vietnam2 in that . [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". The MLK Speech We Need Today Is Not the One We Remember Most 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? P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Of course, the Nobel Peace Laureate, a man who clearly believed in nonviolence down to his very soul CONAN: but he'd wanted to give that speech two years earlier. 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 Paul A. Schuette, King Preaches on Non-Violence at Police-Guarded Howard Hall, Washington Post, 3 March 1965. Of course, again, that philosophy, when the papers got a hold of him the next day, that strategy didn't work so well. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. Martin Luther King Jr. held his acceptance speech in the auditorium of the University of Oslo on 10 December 1964. He passed the Civil Rights Act. 0000007566 00000 n 0000046786 00000 n 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. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. But anyway, where he says, I am mindful of those who spoke at this podium, this spot before me, including Martin Luther King and that I stand on his shoulders as a champion of civil rights. Their questions are frighteningly relevant. On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a controversial sermon opposing the Vietnam War at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, then helped lead a large antiwar march from Central Park to the United Nations later that month. 0000011068 00000 n 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. We have cooperated in the crushing of the nations only non-Communist revolutionary political force the unified Buddhist church. He turned that into a great speech when he got out of the hospital. 0000006515 00000 n He was one of the most important and influential Civil Rights leaders in the 1950s and 1960s. Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist that led the Civil Rights Movement, and other movements until his assassination in 1968. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. So practically everybody in his inner circle was against him giving it - one, because they knew the kind of pushback he was going to get. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? The Riverside Church donated largely with Rockefeller money. 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. (1997). The True Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Free Press. King to Weigh Civil Disobedience). "[14] That's at npr.org, click on TALK OF THE NATION. MLK Opposed "Poverty, Racism & Militarism" in Speech One Year Before 800-989-8255, email us talk@npr.org. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Colombia and why American napalm and green beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru. [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. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. 0000005696 00000 n Martin Luther King April 4, 1967 Riverside Church, New York City . When you read the speech, if you replace the word Vietnam, every time it pops up, with the word Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan, you will be - it will blow your mind at how King, where he alive today at 81, could really stand up and give that same speech and just replace, again, Vietnam with Iraq and Afghanistan. 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. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within ones own bosom and in the surrounding world. "Beyond Vietnam" - The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Peace and civil rights dont mix, they say. If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. 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. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence . Thank you. 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. complaining of what he described as a double standard that applauded his nonviolence at home, but deplored it when applied "toward little brown Vietnamese children. 4 Powerful Martin Luther King, Jr. Speeches That Aren't 'I Have A Dream' Tomorrow, the latest installment with the political junkie. So far we may have killed a million of them mostly children. "It basically ruins their relationship," says Smiley. Vietnam War | The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute Vietnam War Event May 11, 1961 to April 30, 1975 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. 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. Smiley spoke with both scholars and friends of King, including Cornel West, Vincent Harding and Susannah Heschel. 0000002025 00000 n 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. CONAN: We (unintelligible) to see it. Attachment 4: Are We Ready to Listen to Dr. King? 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. Because he received a letter from a little white girl who said, Dr. King, I read the newspaper that had you sneezed that blade would've moved, ruptured your aorta and you would've drowned in your own blood. It basically ruined their working relationship. Martin Luther King Jr. - Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam I've Been to the Mountaintop - Wikipedia "[9], King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. 800-989-8255. 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-concerned committees for the next generation. hide caption. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. 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? Grossfield, Stan. 0000003415 00000 n I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation.

martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript 2023