beyond vietnam 7 reasons

Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is this vocation of sonship and brotherhood, and because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned especially for his suffering and helpless and outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them. About the Sermon "Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence" The "Beyond Vietnam" sermon was drafted by historian and activist Vincent Gordon Harding. Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown 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. Communist China did not spread communism beyond Vietnam [Laos and Cambodia]. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. Now they languish under our bombs and consider us, not their fellow Vietnamese, the real enemy. I say it plain, Giu 11, 2022 | narcissistic withdrawal. Before the end of the war we were meeting eighty percent of the French war costs. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today my own government. But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war. The Washington Post criticized his "sheer inventions of unsupported fantasy" and lamented how "many who have listened to him with respect will never again accord him the same confidence . 52 0 obj There is at the outset a very obvious and dVb+==*7O5yM^sN/3 ? Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word (unquote). In 1967, however, Beyond Vietnam ignited an uproar. Though her portions be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong Their questions are frighteningly relevant. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. He drafted several speeches for King over the years and eventually became the first director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center. The speech titled "Beyond Vietnam" is relevant to today's war in Ukraine. And the choice goes by forever twixt that darkness and that light. In the mid-1950s, King led the movement to end segregation and counter prejudice in the . Five: Set a date that we will remove all foreign troops from Vietnam in accordance with the 1954 Geneva Agreement. King followed with an historical sketch outlining Vietnams devastation at the hands ofdeadly Western arrogance,noting,we are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor(King,Beyond Vietnam,146; 153). 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. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. America never was America to me, 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. Why did Rev. Kings Error,New York Times, 7 April 1967. 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. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. . Decent Essays. 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. 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. After 1954 they watched us conspire with Diem to prevent elections which could have surely brought Ho Chi Minh to power over a united Vietnam, and they realized they had been betrayed again. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers. At this point I should make it clear that while I have tried in these last few minutes to give a voice to the voiceless in Vietnam and to understand the arguments of those who are called enemy, I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else. 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. ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( a@" c Arent you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? But they ask and rightly so what about Vietnam? How do they judge us when our officials know that their membership is less than twenty-five percent communist, and yet insist on giving them the blanket name? Both the Washington Post and New York Times published editorials criticizing the speech, with the Post noting that Kings speech haddiminished his usefulness to his cause, to his country, and to his peoplethrough a simplistic and flawed view of the situation (A Tragedy,6 April 1967). Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts. 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. or 404 526-8968. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is a civil rights legend. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. 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. . King's Beyond Vietnam sermon, delivered on April 4, 1967, at New York's Riverside Church . Helping you get here is part of her job. Zip. So, too, with Hanoi. Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? He spoke at Riverside Church in New York City, a venue that had a history of hosting progressive speakers and thinkers. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Even so, the establishment considered it a shock, a disgrace. There's no pattern, and that's what's so frustrating.". 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 resolved without trustful give and take on both sides. He stated . 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. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live. 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. MLK: Beyond Vietnam to Ukraine. Dr. King told reporters on Face the Nation that as a minister he hada prophetic functionand asone greatly concerned about the need for peace in our world and the survival of mankind, I must continue to take a stand on this issue(King, 29 August 1965). Please c, ontact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. at. 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. 1968 was a turning point in U.S. history, a year of triumphs and tragedies, social and political upheavals, that forever changed our country. This is a case of getting out of a certain frame of mind, of a way of thinking about ourselves and about the world.. !S4@'rS[c5TcZ,Ay -\t[ mMIf$s958! aoOyeV_5i#>Z:ShY| x_5i,e*q}iaI$r99SE^gBvDO9 U{-gp=95TF*v*:[lrS;Gqk$>T.mO-+[hGoW sTr".[Z>?n{ 6(|oZQ{=+KND|=OU,QW_#n^iya46/u2H-j= 2. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. 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 . According to the PBS documentary MLK: A Call to Conscience (2010), the speech was denounced by 168 newspapers across the country. We have destroyed their land and their crops. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Now let us begin. 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. Dr. King's purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that Open Document. Follow along with the transcript, below. It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch antirevolutionaries. 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. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. #3 Government Support. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers. In the end, Vietnamese communism stopped short of exporting revolution beyond Indochina because its radical character had created enemies . For 7 reasons: 1. 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.. %PDF-1.5 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. The movement against the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War began in the U.S. with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. w . At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights dont mix, they say. 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, WNET is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 1. stop all bombing in Vietnam. 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. Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered. It decided to send money, supplies, and military advisers to help the South Vietnamese g. Let us not join those who shout war . Though the cause of evil prosper, yet tis truth alone is strong endobj North Vietnam's war profoundly divided American citizens, seriously damaged American credibility around the world, and lent moral support to many radical movements in Africa and Latin America. 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. By that time the communists and South Vietnamese were already engaged in what journalists labeled the "postwar war.". U.S.-Vietnam Trade Bilateral Agreement (US-BTA) was signed in . 5. set a date to remove all foreign troops. 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. The immediate response to Kings speech was largely negative. Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life? Answer (1 of 9): There is little evidence that the US sent troops to Vietnam for economic considerations. Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. In that address he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. 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: Number one: End all bombing in North and South Vietnam. #1 Strong Economic Growth Rates. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. 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. Photo: Ad Meskens. Here's the video. !1V"7AQau2TUqt#46BRrs35b$e%CSFc&d ? We must not engage in a negative anticommunism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. stream We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. This oft misunderstood, this oft misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. King views the Vietnam war as only a symptom of a disease that is affecting America and the American spirit. We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. Then we must make what reparations we can for the damage we have done. This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has a revolutionary spirit. 3. stop the creation of battlefield in Laos and Thailand. 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. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. 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. If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over America and all over the world, when justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream., 2023 WNET. Vietnam spending eviscerated of the Poverty Program 2. ZIP FILE INCLUDES: 4 page worksheet with MLK's "Beyond Vietnam" Speech (PDF)Worksheet Answer KeyTeacher directions with ideas for useCHECK OUT THE . King, Interview on Face the Nation, 29 August 1965, RRML-TxTyU. The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. 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. 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. Both sides alleged, more or less accurately, that the other side was continuously violating the terms . 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. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. It was titled "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." King criticized the war in Vietnam, calling on those of draft age to seek status as conscientious objectors and saying, "we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war." #2 Young, Skilled Population. Introduction Martin Luther King, Jr in his speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" argued that US foreign policy was hypocritical when compared to the inequality present in the United States. They see the children degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. His speech appears below. We must provide the medical aid that is badly needed, making it available in this country, if necessary. 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 They ask if our own nation wasnt using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions. The pro-social justice and anti-war speech were delivered to state MLK's opposition . King, a gifted speaker who normally wouldnt read from text, did read out Beyond Vietnam because he planned to submit it to publications and did not want to be misquoted. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. Vietnam's universal health coverage index is at 73higher than regional and global averageswith 87 percent of the population covered. His indictment of the U.S. government and the war became known as The Riverside Church Speech and it was criticized by media from The New York Times to the Washington Post, and by groups such as the NAACP, which objected to the Civil Rights Movement weighing in on the war and joining anti-war protests. Now there is little left to build on, save bitterness. And they are surely right to wonder what kind of new government we plan to help form without them, the only party in real touch with the peasants. 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. Fall of Saigon during Vietnam War. PBS talk show host Tavis. Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam. 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. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries. King delivered a speech entitled " Beyond Vietnam ," pointing out that the war effort was "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" (King, " Beyond Vietnam ," 143). For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent. Could it be that they do not know that the good news was meant for all men for Communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative? Martin Luther King Jr. gave many speeches in his lifetime. Regarding choosing Beyond Vietnam for the title when the country was deep in the middle of the war, Harding recalled in an interview with Tavis Smiley, this is more than a simple case of getting out of Vietnam. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.. 4. give the NLF a say in negotiations. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. In the strife of truth and Falsehood, for the good or evil side; We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. And of course its always good to come back to Riverside church. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. << /Filter /FlateDecode /S 163 /Length 230 >> . Soon, the only solid solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call fortified hamlets. The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these. #6 Low Expenses. Despite public criticism, King continued to attack the Vietnam War on both moral and economic grounds. How can they trust us when now we charge them with violence after the murderous reign of Diem and charge them with violence while we pour every new weapon of death into their land? Soldier of the 25th Infantry Division, c., 1969. 1. punished the poor. 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. Is it among these voiceless ones? Notably, the economy grew at an average annual rate of 7.5% in 1991-2000 period. Martin Luther King uses persuasive argument in his speeches. For nine years we vigorously supported the French in their abortive effort to recolonize Vietnam. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. 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. English "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence", also referred as Riverside Church speech, is an anti-Vietnam war and pro- social justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1967. They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. On March 29, 1973, the last U.S. military unit left Vietnam. Vincent Harding and his first wife, Rosemarie, were friends and colleagues of Martin and Coretta King in the Southern Freedom Movement, directing an interracial voluntary service unit of the Mennonite Church (Mennonite House) in . Many people believed that America had no reason to interfere, Dr. King being one of those people. 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. 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. #7 Infrastructure Development. The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history. 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. by Rick Sterling January 16, 2023. 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. Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech that startled even many of his supporters in the Civil Rights Movement. Is our nation planning to build on political myth again, and then shore it up upon the power of new violence? Become a member of THIRTEEN ($5 monthly or $60 annually) and get access to THIRTEEN Passport as our thanks for your support. 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. Martin Luther King April 4, 1967 Riverside Church, New York City JFIF C Beyond Vietnam Ethos Pathos Logos. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? King, Statement on voter registration in Alabama, 9 March 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. 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. endstream King specified seven major reasons for brining the war to an end based on moral vision, allowing for a further tie between . We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions that we initiated. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative method of protest possible. To change course, King suggested a five point outline for stopping the war, which included a call for a unilateral ceasefire. I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. Equally unclear is why Vietnam decided to begin accepting deportees who arrived in the United States prior to 1995. . We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 The AMERICAN War had come to define AMERICA in the second half of the 20th century. We must continue to raise our voices and our lives if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam. To speak for them is to explain this lack of confidence in Western words, and especially their distrust of American intentions now.