One year before his death, MLK gave this epic speech against war and against the religion of American exceptionalism. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. See Also: King and the Cross, by Jim Douglass A reflection at the Holy Week Faith and Resistance Retreat Washington D.C., April 2007 The Converging Martyrdom of Malcolm and Martin, by Jim Douglass Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture, Princeton Theological Seminary, March 29, 2006 The speech condemned the Vietnam War and laid out a set of policy proposals to end it. 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. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. April 4, 1967, Riverside Church, Manhattan Submitted by HenryAWallace on Sun, 04/09/2017 - 9:20am Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose . Martin Luther King is enshrined in American memory as a great civil rights leader and rightly so. But anti-war sentiments continued to gain force in the U.S. during the late 1960’s, resulting in major protests at Kent State and in Chicago. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both. "[15] 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. February 16 "Things are not Right in this Country" On April 15, 1967, King participated and spoke at an anti-war march from Manhattan's Central Park to the United Nations. One year later Dr. King was assassinated. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence", also referred as the Riverside Church speech, is an anti–Vietnam War and pro–social justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. On April 6, 1967, a confidential source, who has furnished reliable information in the past, advised that Stanley Levison and Harry Wachtel, New York advisors to Martin Luther King Jr., were in conference concerning King's speech at Riverside Church, New York City, on April 4, 1967. 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. " 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. "[25] 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. The New York Times editorial suggested that conflating the civil rights movement with the anti-war movement was an oversimplification that did justice to neither, stating that "linking these hard, complex problems will lead not to solutions but to deeper confusion." Some, like civil rights leader Ralph Bunche Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York City:I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. [17][18] Please c, ontact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. at, American Prophet: Online Course Companion, Freedom's Ring: King's "I Have a Dream" Speech, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). By Rev. Martin Luther King 4 April 1967. "[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. On April 04 1967, (exactly a year to the day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tn) Martin Luther King, Jr gave an explosive speech at the Riverside Church called: Beyond Vietnam-A Time to Break the Silence.Besides saying that the problems in the US (1967 was also a very tumultuous time, in recent memory and history) could be traced to the "triple evils" of … © Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and ACCESSIBILITY. When Martin Luther King Jr. preached his famous sermon "Beyond Vietnam" at Riverside Church in New York City in April 1967, I don't recall giving his words a second thought. The King Institute, in partnership with The Riverside Church, have made available six audio recordings, previously unknown to historians, of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at The Riverside Church in the City of New York between August 1961 and April 1967.. Perhaps the most famous of these speeches is “Beyond Vietnam,” originally delivered at The Riverside Church on … In May 2018, The Riverside Church Archives received a grant from the. [19] The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. The New York Times had a great article about Martin Luther King, Jr’s 1967 speech against the war in Vietnam, broadening his concerns from civil rights to the ongoing war in Southeast Asia. April 4th 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr most important speech at Riverside Church in NY. "[9], King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. Obery M. Hendricks Jr., Ph.D. (January 20, 2014). The King recordings were digitized as part of a larger joint project between The Riverside Church and. By Rev. These recordings have the potential to transform King scholars’ understanding of his intellectual and political development. The AAPB is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH, and coordinates a national effort to preserve at-risk public media before its content is lost to posterity, and provides a central web portal for access to the unique programming that public stations have aired over the past 70 years. Martin Luther King, Jr’s 1967 speech against the war in Vietnam April 4, 2017. Yet as his Riverside Church Address … March 30, 2017. His real purpose was to save America’s soul, a self-assigned mission that was either wildly presumptuous or deeply prophetic. The AAPB is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH, and coordinates a national effort to preserve at-risk public media before its content is lost to posterity, and provides a central web portal for access to the unique programming that public stations have aired over the past 70 years. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom Yet as his Riverside Church Address made plain, his life’s mission went far beyond fighting racial discrimination. Martin Luther King is enshrined in American memory as a great civil rights leader and rightly so. King often referred to recent events and issues relevant to the Riverside congregation, in particular racial segregation and income inequality in New York City, and even referenced aspects of The Riverside Church’s neo-Gothic architecture and statuary to illustrate his sermons. His voice was somber, the mood serious. ... That changed on April 4, 1967, at the Riverside Baptist Church in New York City, when he gave the most controversial speech of his life. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, List of lynching victims in the United States, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beyond_Vietnam:_A_Time_to_Break_Silence&oldid=1001478855, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 19 January 2021, at 21:33. This speech, “Beyond Vietnam” is one of the boldest, most One of the eight "sound cells" in @Large, Ai Weiwei's 2014–15 exhibit at Alcatraz, features King's voice giving the "Beyond Vietnam" speech.[29]. Fifty years ago today, on April 4, 1967, a reluctant Martin Luther King stood in Riverside Church in New York. Excerpts from Martin Luther King, Jr., "Beyond Vietnam": Speech at Riverside Church Meeting, New York, N.Y., April 4, 1967. 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. Benjamin Hedin on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, anti-Vietnam War speech at Riverside Church in New York, which risked King’s relationship with Lyndon Johnson. Perhaps the most famous of these speeches is “Beyond Vietnam,” originally delivered at The Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before King’s assassination. By the time of the Riverside speech, it had taken King two years to become an outspoken critic of the war. The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr. "Why Martin Luther King Didn't Run for President", "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. While a recording of this speech has been publicly available for years, the new recording is significantly clearer and reproduces King’s speech as it would have been heard by public radio listeners at the time. Keep these thoughts in mind while listening to Bush's SOTU speech and his incessant warmongering and macho bloodthirstiness. The King Institute, in partnership with The Riverside Church, have made available six audio recordings, previously unknown to historians, of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at The Riverside Church in the City of New York between August 1961 and April 1967. Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City [Please put links to this speech on your respective web sites and if possible, place the text itself there. Life magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi",[9] and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people. [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. "The press is being stacked against me", King said,[14] King spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, arguing that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony" and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. This speech from April 4, 1967, still resonates today. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered one of his most politically charged speeches from Harlem's Riverside Church. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked to end poverty, condemn war and was a great civil rights leader. MLK: Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence 1967 Riverside Church Published on Jul 6, 2015 In this speech, he opposes violence and militarism, particularly the war in … I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. Valerie June powerfully accompanies. [13] Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at Riverside Church, NYC, April 4 1967 Fifty years ago today, Martin Luther King gave a paramount speech addressing the moral bankruptcy of the Vietnam war and the untenable costs to society of rampant U.S. militarism. At the U.N. King also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft. Martin Luther King's Riverside Church speech. Martin Luther King 4 April 1967 Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. "[24], 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. Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco. In May 2018, The Riverside Church Archives received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to digitize, preserve, and make publicly accessible a previously unavailable collection of recordings from the public radio station WRVR. [11], King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies, including President Johnson, Billy Graham,[12] union leaders and powerful publishers. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. Tavis Smiley, “MLK: A Call to Conscience.” PBS, January 20 – 21, 2014. The major speech at Riverside Church in New York City, followed several interviews and several other public speeches in which King came out against the Vietnam War and the policies that created it. 2 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. "[10], King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms. "[9] He stated that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands", and accused the U.S. of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children. The King recordings were digitized as part of a larger joint project between The Riverside Church and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB). "[15][16], 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. "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence", also referred as the Riverside Church speech,[1] is an anti–Vietnam War and pro–social justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. 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. Some, like civil rights leader Ralph Bunche, the NAACP, and the editorial page writers of The Washington Post[3] and The New York Times[4] called the Riverside Church speech a mistake on King's part. Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam. Celebrate Rev. He proceeded to make his most controversial speech. The other five audio recordings feature King delivering sermons from The Riverside Church pulpit: “Paul’s Letter to American Christians” on August 13, 1961; “The Dimensions of a Complete Life” on November 18, 1962; “A Knock at Midnight” on August 9, 1964; “The Man Who Was A Fool” on August 8, 1965; and “Transformed Nonconformist” on January 23, 1966. When: 4 April 1967 Where: Riverside Church, New York City Why it’s important: The U.S. government’s desire to halt the expansion of communism abroad acted as the primary purpose for American involvement in Vietnam. Please contact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. at licensing@i-p-m.com or 404 526-8968. [25], King's stance on Vietnam encouraged Allard K. Lowenstein, William Sloane Coffin and Norman Thomas, with the support of anti-war Democrats, to attempt to persuade King to run against President Johnson in the 1968 United States presidential election. In this speech, he opposes violence and militarism, particularly the war in Vietnam. It was written by activist and historian Vincent Harding. Others, including James Bevel, King's partner and strategist in the Civil Rights Movement, called it King's most important speech. , a six-part radio documentary covering the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham, AL in 1963. The Washington Post and the New York Times called the Riverside Church speech a mistake on King's part. Beyond Vietnam A portion of this speech is used in the track "Wisdom, Justice, and Love" by Linkin Park, from their 2010 album A Thousand Suns. United States 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. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech at Riverside Church in New York. The march was organized by the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and initiated by its chairman, James Bevel. Riverside Church, New York City. "Why We Must Go to Washington,"; speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. at a staff retreat at Ebenezer Baptist Church, February 15, 1968 Atlanta, GA The only reference to this speech is located in the SCLC archives for MLK speaks, the speech in its entirety ran during Episodes 6807 & 6808. "[23] Excerpts from this speech are used in the songs "Together" and "Spirit" by Nordic Giants. King contemplated but ultimately decided against the proposal on the grounds that he felt uneasy with politics and considered himself better suited for his morally unambiguous role as an activist.[26]. "[25] King quoted a United States official who said that from Vietnam to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution. P: (650) 723-2092  |  F: (650) 723-2093  |  kinginstitute@stanford.edu  |  Campus Map. James L. Bevel dies at 72; civil rights activist and top lieutenant to King", "Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable", "Martin Luther King Jr. as Democratic Socialist.". [27], In 2010, PBS commentator Tavis Smiley said that the speech was the most controversial speech of King's career, and the one he "labored over the most".[28]. The United States Congress was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. 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. Monument or Man? Tavis Smiley’s two-part program on the Riverside Church speech in which Martin Luther King denounced the Vietnam War was a welcome exception to the annual ritual that diminishes King’s actual legacy. 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. Cypress Hall D, 466 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305-4146 Delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr April 1967 At Manhattan’s Riverside Church “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. [6] At the urging of SCLC's former Director of Direct Action and now the head of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, James Bevel, and inspired by the outspokenness of Muhammad Ali,[7] King eventually agreed to publicly oppose the war as opposition was growing among the American public.[6]. The 50th Anniversary of MLK’s Most Controversial Speech. 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 … King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism", he also rejected communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism", and its "political totalitarianism. These sermons had previously been delivered by King elsewhere, but the versions preached from the Riverside pulpit were notably altered from their original versions. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Owned and operated by The Riverside Church from 1961 to 1976, WRVR was the first station to win a Peabody Award for its entire programming, in part for Birmingham: Testament of Nonviolence , a six-part radio documentary covering the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham, AL in 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at The Riverside Church Join us for a special weekend celebrating the life, prophetic work, and ongoing legacy of Rev. The event will take place at the historic Riverside Church in Harlem, where Dr. King gave his famous speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” in 1967. [20][21], 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 ..."[22] 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. On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War.Declaring “ my conscience leaves me no other choice, ” King described the war’s deleterious effects on both America’s poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war … Listen to Martin Luther King Jr.'s controversial anti-war speech given on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City.