0000001427 00000 n For nine years we vigorously supported the French in their abortive effort to recolonize Vietnam. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions. 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 . That's the problem with it. He had fallen off already the list, as you mentioned, had already fallen off the list of the most admired Americans as tallied by Gallup every year. But certainly one of the greatest orators of our time. What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this one? But when he turns the corner and then says, essentially, that Martin's philosophy wouldn't work in today's world, he goes on to say that Dr. King didn't know al-Qaida, as if to suggest that Martin didn't understand evil, that Martin didn't understand violence, that he himself had not been subjected to it. Tomorrow, the latest installment with the political junkie. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. [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. This is Howard, which you know me. 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. 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. 0000002784 00000 n ", After King delivered the speech, Smiley reports, "168 major newspapers the next day denounced him." 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. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that peace and economic justice were critical to his fight for human rights. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. [19][20], In a 1952 letter to Coretta Scott, he said: "I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic"[21] In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism. 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. We have destroyed their land and their crops. Mr. SMILEY: We - let me just tell you this. 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. "[22] Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 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. But Carson makes a powerful point in the special that you just identified, about whether or not Martin King himself would be welcome in some of these mega-churches, at certain political gatherings. But they chose Riverside because King was going to be speaking some days later at a huge rally and march in New York City, and they knew that that rally was going to bring out a different kind of element, a more controversial element. And secondly, so many civil rights leaders were opposed to him giving it because LBJ had been the best president to black people on civil rights. 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. 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. 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. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. You can also join the conversation at our Web site. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that. 800-989-8255, email us talk@npr.org. BRC-NEWS: Black Radical Congress International News/Alerts/Announcements , Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering speech. The initiative to stop it must be ours. 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. 0000011437 00000 n 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. CONAN: And I think a lot of people will see your parallels regarding Iraq, where, indeed, the United States was the aggressor in that conflict. The problem was that practically everyone in his inner circle - not all, there was James Bevel and a couple of others - but practically everyone in his inner circle advised him strongly not to give this speech. What of the National Liberation Front that strangely anonymous group we call VC or Communists? So practically everybody was opposed to him giving this speech. While his legacy is commonly remembered by his famous "I Have A Dream" speech, we've sourced four powerful, lesser-known speeches from Dr. King to listen to and commemorate . We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Answering press questions after addressing a Howard University audience on 2 March 1965, King asserted that the war in Vietnam was accomplishing nothing and called for a negotiated settlement (Schuette, King Preaches on Non-Violence). Mr. SMILEY: He'd wanted to give it two years earlier and had attempted a dry run at this speech, to your appoint, Neal, a couple of years prior to when he gave it. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both. Moreover I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. After he gives it, 168 major newspapers the next day denounce him. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Keep in mind now that 1967, Neal, as you know, is the same year that Muhammad Ali, the world champion, decides to not accept that draft to go and fight in Vietnam. They see the children, degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. 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. ml.K-x1x*tcSO p[ endstream endobj 62 0 obj 720 endobj 63 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 62 0 R >> stream War is not the answer. Of course, he's assassinated in Memphis a year to the day later after giving this speech. 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. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. 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. 0000002427 00000 n And King had preached at this church any number of times before, of course. Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? 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 Scores Poverty Budget, New York Times, 16 December 1966. But what I want - I think the question - I've always thought that Dr. King, that that speech about Vietnam was his best speech in my mind. Martin Luther King, Jr. utilizes figurative to emphasize the inhumanity and immorality of the war. We appreciate that. That's what I feel. He criticized the Vietnam War and praised Muhammad Ali for being a conscientious objector. Attachment 4: Are We Ready to Listen to Dr. King? And I think that if nothing else what we need to wrestle with in a contemporary sense, Neal, is the question of whether or not there is another way that King would have us consider were he allowed to do. 20072023 Blackpast.org. And number two, at what cost? PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley's new documentary, MLK: A Call to Conscience explores King's speech. 0000046786 00000 n Somehow this madness must cease. 0000012541 00000 n We must continue to raise our voices if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam. 0000047501 00000 n Fearful of being labeled a Communist, which would diminish the impact of his civil rights work, King tempered his criticism of U.S. policy in Vietnam through late 1965 and 1966. 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. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. Neither is it an attempt to make North Vietnam or the National Liberation Front paragons of virtue, nor to overlook the role they can play in a successful resolution of the problem. dH(*b(jGB@'k1zTR~{dA9|\b. "[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. 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. Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. 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. 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. Meanwhile we in the churches and synagogues have a continuing task while we urge our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment. 0000001645 00000 n [16][17] King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation, and more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice. 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. 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. CONAN: Howard, thanks very much for the call. And Walt's with us from Cortez in Colorado. And he starts out in the opening line at Riverside Church by saying: I am here tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. 0000013309 00000 n There is.a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. Mr. TAVIS SMILEY (Host, "The Tavis Smiley Show"): Neal, always an honor to be on with you. 0000009168 00000 n "The press is being stacked against me", King said,[13] The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. Because, to your point now, one, I want people to go online and read the speech so you can see the text for yourself. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. PBS talk show. But there was a great turnout for the speech. Carson and Shepard, 2001. . They asked if our own nation wasnt using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horribly clumsy and deadly game we have decided to play. A few years ago there was a shining moment. 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. 0000003199 00000 n A Comparative Study of Martin Luther King Jr & Malcolm X. by. In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. 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. So, too, with Hanoi. 0000001616 00000 n 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. 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. These too are our brothers. Opposes Vietnam War, New York Times, 11 November 1965. Dr. King in a March 25, 1967 antiwar march in Chicago. 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. And after I was wounded, we had four or five 100-pound bomb dropped on us, and 10 Marines were killed outright and 24 were wounded. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. 2/QB(yQVz^*oU.FW 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. Hb```f``; 6Pco;{Q. 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If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. James L. Bevel dies at 72; civil rights activist and top lieutenant to King", "Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable", "The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr", "Why Martin Luther King Didn't Run for President", "Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master and Political Reformer, Dies at 95", "The Story Of King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech", "Dragons, legos, and solitary: Ai Weiwei's transformative Alcatraz exhibition", Full transcript of the speech from Commondreams.org. (Scott) King,My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., 1969. Had the president stopped by giving Martin King his just respect - as he did, to his credit - it would have been okay. 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. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. It was a wonderful, I think, place to give the speech in the sense that it's pretty cavernous. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. 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. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. And King gives a great speech out of that hospital called "If I Had Sneezed." Martin Luther King Jr. announced his strong opposition to the war in Vietnam, the media attacked him for straying outside of his civil rights mandate. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. Tavis Smiley joins us today from the Sheryl Flowers Studios in Los Angeles. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. He is best known for helping achieve civil equality for African Americans, but these speeches--selected because they were each presented at a turning point in the . Those pictures turned Dr. King's stomach. At the U.N. King also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft. The True Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Free Press. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. 0000005696 00000 n Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? [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. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness. 0000003503 00000 n There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. If Americas soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond to compassion my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. Tonight, however, I wish not to speak with Hanoi and the NLF, but rather to my fellow Americans, who, with me, bear the greatest responsibility in ending a conflict that has exacted a heavy price on both continents. Shall we say the odds are too great? between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. JwNt YHiA:{p . 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. Later that year King framed the issue of war in Vietnam as a moral issue: As a minister of the gospel, he said, I consider war an evil. "[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. He would no longer be respected. Due to the Vietnam War is that plenty of individuals, both Americans and Vietnamese were killed. Dr. King is trying to get the point across that our country is being unfair to others. So it was a great turnout. Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. And so the question was, Martin, why would you antagonize the president who has been our friend?