beyond vietnam 7 reasons
Beyond Vietnam (or Time to End the Silence) . Then we must make what reparations we can for the damage we have done. I say it plain, . She was once a tour guide in real life, too. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.. They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Excerpts from "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" Delivered at Riverside Church, New York, April 4, 1967 Since I am a preacher by trade, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( a@" c They ask how we can speak of free elections when the Saigon press is censored and controlled by the military junta. In its April 7 editorial "Dr. King's Error," The New York Times lambasted King for fusing two problems that are "distinct and separate.". If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us. 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, WNET is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. U.S.-Vietnam Trade Bilateral Agreement (US-BTA) was signed in . 3. 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. I join you in this meeting because Im in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. Martin Luther King uses persuasive argument in his speeches. We were sending young Black men 8,000 miles away to die for freedoms they don't have at home. A year to the day before his assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Martin Luther King Jr. was in New York City, at the Riverside Church on Manhattan's Upper West Side, talking about Vietnam. King spoke that afternoon about Freedom's Ring: King's "I Have a Dream" Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. 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. Get a roundup of broadcast and digital premieres, special offers, and events with our weekly newsletter. This kind of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism. They question our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded. We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. 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. Let us not join those who shout war . Despite public criticism, King continued to attack the Vietnam War on both moral and economic grounds. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. << /BitsPerComponent 8 /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB /ColorTransform 0 /Filter /DCTDecode /Height 609 /Subtype /Image /Type /XObject /Width 1600 /Length 68988 >> Here's the essay I wrote in the video: In the speech "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence," Dr. Rev. In that address he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. 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. xc```b``9Y `6+ *i`x!fw[ TC82U |])KXl[T7R)UbpE0q@e8.;c q8, e0+EN328v`8 00~QAI[ksz#Jw;`t!>8#oB;|;!V QM A Speech That Took a Stand But arguably "Beyond Vietnam" was the most famous, and widely denounced, since it came before the Tet Offensive and the massacre at My Lai which turned public opinion in the U.S. broadly against the war. And of course its always good to come back to Riverside church. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1971. In the end, Vietnamese communism stopped short of exporting revolution beyond Indochina because its radical character had created enemies . The fall of South Vietnam. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. 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 * by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. w . 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. Martin Luther King, Jr., giving his speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence at Riverside Church in NYC, April 4, 1967. They must see Americans as strange liberators. Dr. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. 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. All Rights Reserved. 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? 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. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. ZIP FILE INCLUDES: 4 page worksheet with MLK's "Beyond Vietnam" Speech (PDF)Worksheet Answer KeyTeacher directions with ideas for useCHECK OUT THE . We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. Declaringmy conscience leaves me no other choice,King described the wars deleterious effects on both Americas poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war through nonviolent means (King, Beyond Vietnam, 139). Interior of Riverside Church on W. 120th Street in Manhattan. To Build a Mature Society: The Lasting Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" Speech By Kristopher Burrell At Riverside Church in Harlem on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a blistering and sophisticated critique of U. S. intervention in Vietnam. Though her portions be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? %# , #&')*)-0-(0%()( C On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King delivered his first major public statement against the Vietnam War, entitled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence." Addressing a crowd of 3,000 at Riverside Church in New York City, King condemned the war as anti-democratic, impractical, and unjust. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. 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. 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. << /Linearized 1 /L 585080 /H [ 1225 310 ] /O 55 /E 123247 /N 10 /T 584505 >> Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech that startled even many of his supporters in the Civil Rights Movement. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is a civil rights legend. MLK's Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history. Many people believed that America had no reason to interfere, Dr. King being one of those people. There is at the outset a very obvious and 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. Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. Soldier of the 25th Infantry Division, c., 1969. 3. 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. 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? Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. 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). 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. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. Kings anti-war sentiments emerged publicly for the first time in March 1965, when King declared thatmillions of dollars can be spent every day to hold troops in South Viet Nam and our country cannot protect the rights of Negroes in Selma(King, 9 March 1965). Did you find this entry while surfing the web? 1. stop all bombing in Vietnam. Seleziona una pagina. On 4 April, accompanied by Amherst College Professor Henry Commager, Union Theological Seminary President John Bennett, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, at an event sponsored by Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, King spoke to over 3,000 at New Yorks Riverside Church. 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. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. !1V"7AQau2TUqt#46BRrs35b$e%CSFc&d ? (Doi Moi) from 1986 to 2006. According to the PBS documentary MLK: A Call to Conscience (2010), the speech was denounced by 168 newspapers across the country. The first reason "obvious" and "facile," according to King was the effect of the Vietnam War on the War on Poverty in the United States. baseball font with tail generator Moreover, I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on lifes roadside, but that will be only an initial act. What of the National Liberation Front, that strangely anonymous group we call VC or communists? For 7 reasons: 1. 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. 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. 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. 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. Open Document. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Rev. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr., an enormously influential civil rights activist, conveys his indignant and hopeful thoughts regarding the Vietnam War, in his speech "Beyond Vietnam," by utilizing biblical allusion, anaphora, and use of diction. 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. 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. Here's the video. 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.. 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.. 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 . But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. Surely we must understand their feelings, even if we do not condone their actions. Let us not join those who shout war and, through their misguided passions, urge the United States to relinquish its participation in the United Nations. King had stepped up his anti-war proclamations on February 25, 1967, when he appeared at a convention in Beverly Hills, California. 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. We must provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country, if necessary. Christina Knight is Managing Editor of Institutional Marketing at The WNET Group. #7 Infrastructure Development. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. In the air, America reached new heights with NASA's Apollo 8 orbiting the moon and Boeing's 747 jumbo jet's first flight. 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. Even before the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, they began to despair of their reckless action, but we did not. 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. 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. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. 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. They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. %PDF-1.5 dVb+==*7O5yM^sN/3 ? This is a case of getting out of a certain frame of mind, of a way of thinking about ourselves and about the world.. xcbd`g`b``8 "Y& D2 IF>E0y6DrLb`] R3XM-c |)f&!ME Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech "Beyond Vietnam" is incredibly insightful regarding how it speaks to issues we face today. The AMERICAN War had come to define AMERICA in the second half of the 20th century. To change course, King suggested a five point outline for stopping the war, which included a call for a unilateral ceasefire. King urged insteada radical revolution of valuesemphasizing love and justice rather than economic nationalism (King, Beyond Vietnam,157). They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. These are revolutionary times. 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. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 The immediate response to Kings speech was largely negative. Vietnam spending eviscerated of the Poverty Program 2. Somehow this madness must cease. Number two: Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation. In this speech he use Logos and Pathos. America never was America to me, endobj These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness. So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. 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. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. #2 Young, Skilled Population. Photo: Ad Meskens. King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers. King enumerated seven major reasons to bring the war to an end based on moral vision. Perhaps a more difficult but no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as our enemies. #4 New Market. 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. And so, such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. 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? Soon we would be paying almost the full costs of this tragic attempt at recolonization. This speech was released by Black Foru. 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. Procrastination is still the thief of time. So they go, primarily women and children and the aged. 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. 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. For nine years we vigorously supported the French in their abortive effort to recolonize Vietnam. #5 Free Trade Agreements. 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. The actual speech begins at 1:41 in the recording. In addition to Martin Luther King, Jr., the church has hosted many prominent speakers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was executed in 1945 at a German concentration camp; Cesar Chavez, the Mexican-American civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association; and Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and former president of South Africa. @ !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 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. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, and injustice, which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops. endobj The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood it ebbs. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. So, too, with Hanoi. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. << /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 [] >> Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. The speech titled "Beyond Vietnam" is relevant to today's war in Ukraine. 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). Published January 12, 2023. 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. 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. Some great cause, Gods new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight, The belief of the clergy took the theme of silence is betrayal. Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that We must stop now. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond ones tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing embracing and unconditional love for all mankind. And finally, as I try to explain for you and for myself the road that leads from Montgomery to this place I would have offered all that was most valid if I simply said that I must be true to my conviction that I share with all men the calling to be a son of the living God. Omar Khayyam is right: The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. Is our nation planning to build on political myth again, and then shore it up upon the power of new violence? The church maintains an active social justice mission today. 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. Recent flashpoints. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. 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 . 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 1954; and I cannot forget that the Nobel Peace Prize 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. Tax ID: 26-2810489. 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. Recently one of them wrote these words, and I quote: Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. 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.
