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 authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. 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. He passed the Civil Rights Act. 0000002025 00000 n The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1945 after a combined French and Japanese occupation, and before the Communist revolution in China. CONAN: And there's an interesting point you also make in the film that - or at least some of the participants in your film make - that were he alive today and saying the kinds of things you would expect him to say, given that speech, he probably would not be invited to many Martin Luther King Day celebrations. For those who ask the question, Arent you a civil rights leader? and thereby mean to exclude me from the movement for peace, I have this further answer. 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. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose. The film is the second episode of Tavis Smiley Reports. I guess the question now is whether or not Afghanistan is a war of necessity or a war of choice. This speech was enormously controversial. "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence", also referred as the Riverside Church speech,[1] is an antiVietnam War and prosocial justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. Five years ago he said, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.. 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. 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. And I think most Americans know the "I Have A Dream" speech. In that address, he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. So, that's all I had to say. 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 . After the French were defeated it looked as if independence and land reform would come again through the Geneva agreements. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. CONAN: Well, take us back to 1967. 0000003503 00000 n In that address, he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. 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. 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. Appreciate it. To me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. So King understood violence. Robert B. Semple, Jr., Dr. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. I just wanted to say that I was an 18-year-old Marine in Vietnam when the speech was given, and I didn't hear it until three or four years ago. Because, to your point now, one, I want people to go online and read the speech so you can see the text for yourself. Martin Luther King Jr. was deeply troubled by the Vietnam War for years, but the "Beyond Vietnam" speech was his first major policy statement on the issue. How can they believe in our integrity when now we speak of aggression from the north as if there were nothing more essential to the war? Now there is little left to build onsave bitterness. 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. After he gives it, 168 major newspapers the next day denounce him. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world a world that borders on our doors. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. 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. And King was prescient on this. He was stabbed at one time. 0000013309 00000 n At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted conceptso readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly forcehas now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. 0000007161 00000 n 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. 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. Let me say this right quick: The comparisons between what King was addressing then about militarism, poverty and racism sound familiar 45 years later. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? 5. 0000002004 00000 n "[14] Check your local listings. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. Before long they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy and the secure while we create hell for the poor. Sorry, I'm a little bit emotional here. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. 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 have no part? If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is known for being one of the greatest orators of the twentieth century, and perhaps in all of American history. King to Weigh Civil Disobedience). The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.. 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. Although the peace community lauded Kings willingness to take a public stand against the war in Vietnam, many within the civil rights movement further distanced themselves from his stance. Mr. TAVIS SMILEY (Host, "The Tavis Smiley Show"): Neal, always an honor to be on with you. CONAN: We (unintelligible) to see it. In Hanoi are the men who led the nation to independence against the Japanese and the French, the men who sought membership in the French commonwealth and were betrayed by the weakness of Paris and the willfulness of the colonial armies. It's a powerful refrain, Neal, about what would've happened in his life, what he would've missed if he had sneezed at that very moment. This kind of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism. We must move past indecision to action. 0000012562 00000 n King Leads Chicago Peace Rally, New York Times, 26 March 1967. The great initiative in this war is ours. The Washington Post says he has done a discredit to himself, to his people, to his country. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed 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. 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. Mr. SMILEY: Neal, thank you for the opportunity. 39 0 obj << /Linearized 1 /O 44 /H [ 1739 286 ] /L 149455 /E 105346 /N 8 /T 148557 >> endobj xref 39 54 0000000016 00000 n Dr. Benjamin Spock (2nd-L), Martin Luther King, Jr. (C), Father Frederick Reed and Cleveland Robinson lead a huge pacifist rally protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war, Mar. (Unintelligible) on this program about, you know, the chances he took and even, you know, speaking truth to power to LBJ helped him so much in civil rights. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in . We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. But most Americans, I think, do not know this speech, "Beyond Vietnam.". [18] He guarded his language in public to avoid being linked to communism by his enemies, but in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism. And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. So, too, with Hanoi. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call fortified hamlets. (1997). Martin Luther King: Beyond Vietnam and Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, 90th Cong., 2d sess., Congressional Record 114 (9 April 1968): 93919397. "[9], King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. That Vietnam was a mistake. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. "It basically ruins their relationship," says Smiley. capitalism, and the Vietnam War. I feel that Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali are two of the, you know, greatest Americans we've ever had. PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley's new documentary, MLK: A Call to Conscience explores King's speech. In a way we were agreeing with Langston Hughes, that black bard of Harlem, who had written earlier: O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath America will be! "[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. Tavis Smiley joins us today from the Sheryl Flowers Studios in Los Angeles. Mr. SMILEY: Yeah. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This is Howard, which you know me. . And when you see the piece on "Lens" tonight that's the part of the speech that set off so many of those who are in King's inner circle, so many scholars who have written about King. 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. And his argument, basically, was that I cannot, as a practitioner and a true believer in nonviolence, espouse that nonviolent philosophy in our movement and then somehow sit idly by when I see violence being engaged around the world. 159. One of the things, I hope, Neal, will happen here is that when people get a chance to see the special, they will be moved - I think they will be - to Google or Bing, whatever search engine you use, to go online, because the speech is so readily available, Neal, as you know. ) fuG {*pZ//e,QTx)%TuS%@^2j/?Nf7nx!]OvqJG=_oD3?VUMs+tM95X )G~1b'g])!`]:|OwHh-J6ZHg{Z9N3b!\#9"zhT\]sp2WtTal =YvkO8yu 6^,n,v$+u$|^1wUF}GGc=p!e#F\]xx6l~NTYSmc /ut^*WTPO Cp =-FQW.]y#F6NsQ2Qzqz=|v94+JC?w4,|yi4T0eIaaeD2-Y1 Such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. But Martin understood very clearly that what we ought to be doing at home is being - we are being distracted, rather, by our engagement around the world. King, Beyond Vietnam, in A Call to Conscience, ed. Others, including James Bevel, King's partner and strategist in the Civil Rights Movement, called it King's most important speech. He supported Johnsons calls for diplomatic negotiations and economic development as the beginnings of such a step. As that noble bard of yesterday, James Russell Lowell, eloquently stated: Once to every man and nation Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth and falsehood, For the good or evil side; Some great cause, Gods new Messiah, Offring each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever Twixt that darkness and that light. 0000007566 00000 n We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. Even before the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, they began to despair of the reckless action, but we did not. He rarely gave speeches from a text. Howard's calling us from South Bend. But LBJ disinvites him to the White House. 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. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
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