MLK, Jr: "A Time To Break Silence"

[H2O Man]

"Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and as a brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being sibverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

"This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. 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. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. 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. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism.' "

April 4, 1967; Riverside Church, NYC; meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned.

I think we could substitute "Iraq" for "Vietnam" and "Muslim" for "Buddhist." The truth remains the same, and just as powerful today as 38 years ago. Truth crushed to earth has risen again.

[leftchick]

1. agreed

history repeats.

[H2O Man]

2. Just as history repeats

some threads tend to! I did not see that G_j's thread on MKL had the first half of this quote, or I'd have simply joined that thread with the second half. Sorry about that.

[BeFree]

3. Only one way to back out

We've got to bite our tongues and say: 'Twas a noble effort and was done for a good cause: The defeat of terrorism and for the newfound freedom of the Iraqi people.

But we are done. Terrorism is on the run, and the people are free. Let us now withdraw, and while still extending a helping hand, let the people live in their country free of US troops.

My tongue hurts. Bring our troops home. Now.

[H2O Man]

10. "Declare victory

and withdraw." Hmmmm .... now that sounds familiar! Yet with have a president who has said that his daddy made an error in "cutting and running" in the 1sr Gulf War. He's invested in what is to be the biggest embassy in the world, and 12 large military bases. The administration lacks the moral capacity to withdraw from Iraq on its own.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. America doesn't need "I have a dream." America needs "Beyond Vietnam"

But it's safer to let people dream, and keep this dangerous Dr King in the grave.

From the same speech:

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. During the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which has now justified the presence of U.S. military advisors in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Cambodia and why American napalm and Green Beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru.

It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. 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. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin, we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. 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.

...

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. 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 South 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.

A true revolution of values will lay hand 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 nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. 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. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.
http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKjrBeyondVietnam.htm

[H2O Man]

5. While I think we need both,

it is interesting to compare the two speeches, and what they really represent. Today it is fashionable to be moved by the "I Have a Dream" speech. At the time, it did open the minds and hearts of a number of people, both black and white. For others, it made King seem like a dangerous influence, with his wild talk of black children playing with white children. Segregation was a huge part of the social fabric, and people of the KKK-mentality certainly hated having this black preacher who was able to speak so well.

The fact that King had only read a couple paragraphs of his prepared speech, and then went into an extemporaneous display of poetic and prophetic oratory, still send chills in many of us.

Of course the other speech signed his death warrent. The true power base in the US wasn't concerned about black folk drinking coffee in a public place, or using a public restroom. They weren't worried about black kids playing with white kids: for generations, they had played with their servants' children.

But they were worried about the economic structure in America. And he was sure as hell taking aim at that. J. Edgar Hoover could experience anxiety in the darkened corners of his consciousness, terrified about King's ties to "commonists," as the director was want to say, or to listen over and over to tapes of bed springs squeeking. But he couldn't have ordered US Army troops to follow King from city to city without having evidence that King indeed posed a threat to the state. And when King spoke out against Vietnam, and about the economic system that promoted war abroad and violence at home, that was all it took. And when he planned a "tent city" and a Poor Peoples' Campaign in Washington, DC, he had "gone too far."

[G_j]

6. powerful flash movie with excerpts from "Beyond Vietnam"

very well done and worth passing on..

http://www.bushflash.com/mlk2005.html

"In honor of the upcoming
Martin Luther King
holiday on January 17,
CodePink has produced an inspiring
internet flash movie
that reveals just how out-of-sync the White House is with Dr. King's message of peace and love. You can view it by visiting

http://www.codepinkalert.org .

Dr. King was not only a champion for civil rights, but also a stalwart defender of peace and social justice. The flash movie features excerpts from Dr. King's April 4, 1967 speech at Riverside Church in New York City and overlays his words with images from the Vietnam War and the current Iraq War. A loop of a Tupac Shakur song provides a musical background. Over images of war abroad and poverty at home, Dr. King's voice tells viewers:"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

[H2O Man]

9. Thanks!

Very interesting. People should honor King by doing things such as sending a letter to the editor of their local papers quoting his anti-war speeches. Contrast the message of truth to the lies of the current administration.

[BeFree]

7. Are we still in Iraq?

How much longer will we be there?

How many more of our boys will die from "Improvised" bombs?

We can't afford American Social Security since all our riches are being spent on foreign security. That my friends, is a miserable failure.

[H2O Man]

8. Some of the fascinating

and indeed painful history behind the series of 1967 speeches popularly known as the "Beyond Vietnam" series can be found in Stephen B. Oates' important book, "Let the Trumpet Sound." (Mentor; 1982) King began to connect Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement in large part due to his wife. Coretta had been a peace advocate and solidly anti-Vietnam war activist before Martin. Her activities continued during his Chicago campaign, which appears to have been where he really made the connection. Thus, while Chicago is not considered a civil rights success, it really gave birth to the most powerful part of Martin's life.

On 2-25-67, King gave his first sppech that was devoted entirely to the war at a forum in LA. He called it "one of histories' most cruel and senseless wars." Martin knew, of course, what was to come his way after he moved in this direction, and he spoke of "an ugly and repressive sentiment to silence peace-seekers (by identifying them as) quasi-traitors, fools, and venal enemies of our soldiers and institutions." It was in this speech that King first said that "the bombs in Vietnam explode at home; they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decnt America."

Then he combined the war and civil rights in a most powerful manner: "I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as the moral example of the world .... We must combine the fervor of the civil rights movement with the peace movement. We must demonstrate, teach and preach, until the very foundations of our nation are shaken."

Needless to say, LBJ was furious. Other civil rights leaders were scared that Martin would destroy the good-will of whites, who were the primary financial supporters of their movement. In March, on Long Island, the FBI would tape a meeting between King and others, where Whitney Young, of the Urban League, warned King that his money supply was about to dry up.

"Whitney, what you are saying may get you a foundation grant, but it won't get you into the Kingdom of Heaven." His willingness to move beyond the control of the dollar caused great alarm. He was at this time the most prominent American to publicly oppose the war.

And then he gave his "A Time to Break Silence" speech, which is populary known as "Beyond Vietnam." Oates note that "more than any other, (this speech) marked his emergence as a global leader who applied his incomparable oratory and philosophy of redemptive love to the international theater." (pg 420)

Martin was no longer a "civil rights leader." His father commented that after this speech, "he did not belong to us, he belonged to the world." His associate Wyatt Walker said, "I'm not a mystic, but I am convinced that God is doing something with Martin Luther King that He is not doing with anyone else in this country."

[BeFree]

11. Thanks, MLK

You led our country up and out of the black hole we found ourselves in. And you did it with love... not for money, nor fame. In fact, it cost you your life.

Just like many prophets and messiahs before you, the only way they could control your type was to extinguish your very being. But as always, they failed to eliminate your light, for your light shines brighter every day. Thank God.

[H2O Man]

13. From his letter from the Birmingham jail:

"We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was 'legal' and everything the Hungarians fighting for freedom did in Hungary was 'illegal.' "

If Martin were here today, he would be leading non-violent protests against the immoral actions of the Bush administration. He would be going to jail. I think that we need to think about honoring King by bearing witness to his truths.

[G_j]

14. most definitely

he would be on the front lines of resistance, especially to the war and violence mindset.
He is greatly missed. :cry:

[H2O Man]

15. Perhaps the thing

that would be most distressing for him as that we do not follow his example today. The truth of his message has not taken root in America. We have done to Martin what was done to Jesus when we placed him on stained-glass windows. Rather than wish for a return of Martin, we should be experiencing Martin. We should be experiencing Gandhi.

If there were ten people willing to go to jail in Washington, DC, and to go on a hunger strike, the nation would understand Martin and the Mahatma. They would be in those cells.

[seemslikeadream]

12. Asa Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

In 1962, dissatisfaction had become prevalent in the black community. The African American unemployment rate was double the rate of whites and civil rights had not been achieved. Asa Philip Randolph, labor leader and founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, proposed the idea of a march "for jobs and freedom." With the help of Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist, and the support of other black leaders, the plans for the march were underway by the summer of 1963. The march was planned for August 28, 1963.

In anticipation of trouble, the entire Washington police force of 2900 officers were restricted from taking leave, and 1000 police officers from neighboring cities were made available. But the police would not be needed. The leaders had not only planned the march carefully, but had planned each speech with great care. As the nation would soon see, it was a march of peaceful protest.

At eight o'clock on the morning of August 28, with only fifty people on the monument grounds, it appeared that the event would not be as big as anticipated. However, by ten o'clock there was a huge crowd of people and by the days end, 250,000 had gathered. Marchers included blacks and whites, actors, and about three hundred congressmen. CBS provided continuous televised coverage of the march, and when Dr. Martin Luther King began his "I Have a Dream" speech, NBC and ABC interrupted its programming to bring it live to viewers.

The march was a peaceful demonstration, and by the end of the day, every piece of garbage had been picked up by the five hundred member clean-up crew. Even President Kennedy realized the significance of the march and invited the leaders to the White House after it was over.
http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa043001a.htm