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0000003199 00000 n One of his great advisers and great admirers, Stanley Levison, who was always with Dr. King in his corner, was against Martin giving this speech. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. Martin Luther King: Beyond Vietnam and Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, 90th Cong., 2d sess., Congressional Record 114 (9 April 1968): 93919397. This call for a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond ones tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. HT0WJ3 O$L 0000008347 00000 n Attachment 4: Are We Ready to Listen to Dr. King? 0000009168 00000 n They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. [11], King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies, including President Johnson, Billy Graham,[citation needed] union leaders and powerful publishers. We appreciate that. The cornerstones of his activism were based on non-violence and civil disobedience, both of which were inspired by his Christian faith and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Afghanistan, not so much. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech was delivered at the Riverside Church in New York exactly one year before his assassination. These are revolutionary times. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. The United States Congress was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. The major speech at Riverside Church in New York City, followed several interviews[2] and several other public speeches in which King came out against the Vietnam War and the policies that created it. 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. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. 0000006536 00000 n Accuracy and availability may vary. And King had preached at this church any number of times before, of course. And that's just the Times and the Post. It was a wonderful, I think, place to give the speech in the sense that it's pretty cavernous. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example, issued a statement against merging the civil rights and peace movements. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions. HdTn0+=3hRnm)zK#-t\|Ha)S I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. We must move past indecision to action. King Scores Poverty Budget, New York Times, 16 December 1966. 0000002427 00000 n [1][5], King was long opposed to American involvement in the Vietnam War, but at first avoided the topic in public speeches in order to avoid the interference with civil rights goals that criticism of President Johnson's policies might have created. 0000013408 00000 n In describing the ways in which the . Appreciate it. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. 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. Mr. TAVIS SMILEY (Host, "The Tavis Smiley Show"): Neal, always an honor to be on with you. 0000004834 00000 n "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. "[22] Even before the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, they began to despair of the reckless action, but we did not. 0000001616 00000 n [27] Thich Nhat Hanh, who publicly held a news conference in Chicago with King in 1966, was acknowledged for urging King to oppose the Vietnam War. "[24] King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America", and said that the U.S. should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution. "[14][15], The "Beyond Vietnam" speech reflected King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center, with which he was affiliated. 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. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. I've always argue that Dr. King is the greatest American we've ever produced. Please contact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. atlicensing@i-p-m.comor 404 526-8968. Martin built his speech that night, Neal, around three major points: around increasing militarism, around escalating poverty and around the issue of racism. The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1945 after a combined French and Japanese occupation, and before the Communist revolution in China. A few other Americans know, of course, the "Mountaintop" speech given the night before he's assassinated in Memphis. We must not engage in a negative anti-communism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. I'm Neal Conan. Of course, again, that philosophy, when the papers got a hold of him the next day, that strategy didn't work so well. Copyright 2010 NPR. Mr. SMILEY: That's right. 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 . 0000002337 00000 n 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. 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. Seeking to reduce the potential backlash by framing his speech within the context of religious objection to war, King addressed a crowd of 3,000 people at Riverside Church in New York City. 0000002874 00000 n . Finally, as I try to delineate 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. 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 Latin 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 1967, in the shadows of Columbia, Dr. King shifted the world again. So all that we have is less than 10 minutes of video of the speech. The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these? This kind of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. 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. Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand and our interference in Laos. 2/QB(yQVz^*oU.FW 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. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that. Mr. SMILEY: And therein lies the rub. 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. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. 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. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter but beautifulstruggle for a new world. dH(*b(jGB@'k1zTR~{dA9|\b. W. E. B. Of course, he's assassinated in Memphis a year to the day later after giving this speech. A complete unit of instruction - include ALL answer documents - comparing and contrasting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X's early lives & speeches.This unit of study, which can be taught as a complete unit, or separated into 13 distinct activities . Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. Mr. SMILEY: Yeah, Walt, I thank you for sharing that story as well, for being courageous to tell it, number one. [12] 0000001427 00000 n PBS talk show. At the U.N. King also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft. 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. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. So you got a Nobel laureate named King, a war president with a Nobel Prize named Obama, for all that we have done over the last two years to wed King and Obama together on T- shirts and everywhere else, were King alive today at 81, he and Obama would have a tension point, Neal, on this issue. When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. 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. I say we must enter the struggle, but I wish to go on now to say something even more disturbing. The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. Dr. King in a March 25, 1967 antiwar march in Chicago. CONAN: Indeed, it was Oslo. But two, to the audio, there are only less than 10 minutes of this speech that got covered. The march was organized by the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and initiated by its chairman, James Bevel. And so he does in New York City. King led his first anti-war march in Chicago on 25 March 1967, and reinforced the connection between war abroad and injustice at home: The bombs in Vietnam explode at homethey destroy the dream and possibility for a decent America (Dr. And the last poll taken in his life by Harris, the Harris Poll, Neal, found that nearly three quarters of the American people, nearly three quarters, had turned against Martin on this issue, and 55 percent of his own people, black folk, had turned against him. Recently one of them wrote these words: Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. "This was a huge, huge speech," he continues, "that got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done. HOWARD: How are you doing, Tavis? 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. Is it among these voiceless ones? The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist that led the Civil Rights Movement, and other movements until his assassination in 1968. 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. 2. Moreover I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. 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. 0000030467 00000 n Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God. After he gives it, 168 major newspapers the next day denounce him. 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. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. And so the question was, Martin, why would you antagonize the president who has been our friend? King to Weigh Civil Disobedience If War Intensifies, New York Times, 2 April 1967. President Obama, this is one campaign promise that he has kept. 0000008326 00000 n And let's see if we can get another caller on the line. During the last year of his life, King worked with Spock to develop Vietnam Summer, a volunteer project to increase grassroots peace activism in time for the 1968 elections. At what cost? And we are spending money for a war abroad that ought to be spent for the war on poverty here at home. AFP/AFP/Getty Images We most provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country if necessary. U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, King: A Filmed Record Montgomery to Memphis, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King. 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. P: (650) 723-2092 | F: (650) 723-2093 | kinginstitute@stanford.edu| Campus Map. 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? This speech was enormously controversial. "[8] He connected the war with economic injustice, arguing that the country needed serious moral change: A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. [citation needed]. He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy.