825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, WNET is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. But instead there came the United States, determined that Ho should not unify the temporarily divided nation, and the peasants watched again as we supported one of the most vicious modern dictators, our chosen man, Premier Diem. #7 Infrastructure Development. Why did Rev. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers. Shall we say the odds are too great? A Reflection on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam: A Time beyond vietnam 7 reasons. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. He stated . One speech to show he did this is the "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence" speech. 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. In the air, America reached new heights with NASA's Apollo 8 orbiting the moon and Boeing's 747 jumbo jet's first flight. We were sending young Black men 8,000 miles away to die for freedoms they don't have at home. 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. PDF Martin Luther King, Jr. - The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism (unquote). 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. 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. 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. His speech appears below. What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this One? U.S.-Vietnam Trade Bilateral Agreement (US-BTA) was signed in . 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. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. 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. Five years ago he said, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. In early 1967 King stepped up his anti-war proclamations, giving similar speeches in Los Angeles and Chicago. endobj Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence SHEC: Resources for Teachers San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1971. Dr. 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. Omar Khayyam is right: The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.. The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering realityand if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing clergy and laymen concerned committees for the next generation. Martin Luther King - Beyond Vietnam - 1967 - Internet Archive The U.S. became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam and those who wanted peace. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. 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. Life expectancy rose from 70.5 to 75.5 years between 1990 and 2020. 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. 53 0 obj The speech is considered a turning point in the public opinions of the Vietnam War. 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. 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. See transcript of full speech, below. beyond vietnam 7 reasons "Beyond Vietnam" - Veterans of Hope 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. 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. "Beyond Vietnam", Silence is Betrayal: Martin Luther King's Historic 1967 Speech Introduction by Michel Chossudovsky. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. King holds the U.S. government and the American people responsible for the Vietnam . Exactly a year later, King was assassinated. I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. endstream We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. 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. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. Before the end of the war we were meeting eighty percent of the French war costs. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. 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. 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. #3 Government Support. 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. Martin Luther King Jr., "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" Beyond Vietnam (or Time to End the Silence) . There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood. 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. Beyond Vietnam Ethos Pathos Logos. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of April 4, 1967, now known as the "Beyond Vietnam" speech are such words. Being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, Vietnam becomes a strategic place for many foreign entrepreneurs to invest. 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. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. Martin Luther King Jr.'s enduring legacy: 'Beyond Vietnam' Notably, the economy grew at an average annual rate of 7.5% in 1991-2000 period. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence - Internet Archive Procrastination is still the thief of time. 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? 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. 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. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. 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. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. 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. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown When MLK turned on Vietnam, even liberal 'allies' turned on him - CNN 2. create an unilateral cease fire leading to peace talks. 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. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. 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. What of the National Liberation Front, that strangely anonymous group we call VC or communists? 54 0 obj Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons.
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