Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence By Martin Luther King

Since the creation of our country, African Americans have dealt with prejudice. They have faced many challenges and obstacles, such as segregation. After all of the slaves were emancipated, most public facilities participated in the separation of colored and white people. One of the facilities that was segregated, included the bus system. African Americans had to sit in the back of the bus and, when necessary, had to give up their seat to any white bus rider. Document 1 and 4 show the segregation in schools, which invigorated children and parents, because this made many African Americans students feel inferior. The conclusion of “separate but equal” did not seem to be working in the education system. Restaurants were also segregated. White males and females were given much better service, and restaurants were often separated. Another way African Americans faced inequality, was through the denial of constitutional rights. In many instances, African Americans guaranteed rights were taken away from them. For example the 14th Amendment was violated, which guarantees equal protection of the law and it forbids any state from making laws that

Secretary of State John Kerry once said “I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.” The Vietnam War was a conflict that lasted from 1956-1975 which the United States participated in along with the South Vietnamese who fought against the Communist North Vietnamese. Many Americans strongly disapproved of the war which caused many protests and riots. The war lasted 25 years killing many people and eventually the North Vietnamese won. The Vietnam War was important to Americans back home because it tested the citizen’s right to free speech, effected future foreign policy, and created many issues for returning veterans.

“My Trip to the Land of Gandhi”, written by Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman and famous leader in the African-American civil rights movement, is a short story about Martin’s trip to India also known as the land of Gandhi. Based on the reading, the trip was a great success and the Indian people welcomed Martin and his colleagues with welcoming arms. The Indians appreciated and admired Martin’s nonviolent protest because it resembles that of their peace figure, Gandhi. Martin tells of this excursion to India to express to the reader that a non-violent approach is the superior way to solving problems in life and is cherished much more than violent methods.

Early in our county’s history almost all black people came here as slaves. Because people in the South felt they needed cheap labor in building land and because black people in Africa knew how to farm land like the ones in the South, they were taken from their homes and forced to come to America. Arriving in this county, they were sold to whites as slaves without rights or freedom. IN 1776, the American Colonies declared their freedom from Great Britain. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson write that “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable right; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He declared that all citizens have their rights and equal opportunities in pursuing their goals. Efforts to give black people their rights never stopped, but the changes were not enough. After War II, many people felt that new laws were needed. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that blacks and whites could go to the same schools. However,

For centuries Africa American’s have been stripped from their freedom, their history, and their human rights due to racism and white supremacy. However, in 1868 there was a light at the end of the tunnel, African Americans thought there was an end to racism and the beginning of equality when the 14th Amendment was created. The 14th Amendment stated, “All persons born in the United States are citizens of the United States… no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”(The Founding Fathers) With the privilege of being a citizen a person is entitled to universal freedom (Walton, Smith). Even though the 14th amendment enforced that the state shall not deny privileges to citizens, it never brought about equality for African-Americans because of racism. The Amendment was intended to create equality, however its meaning was misinterpreted and ultimately benefit white males. Because of this, it denied them of their right to freedom from barriers created to keep African Americans inferior such as Jim Crow Laws, Gorilla Warfare for Voting, and Institutional Racism.

Gonyea, D. (2014). LBJ Legacy: Vietnam War Often Overshadows Civil Rights Feat. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/09/300836769/civil-rights-act-anniversary-may-polish-lbj-s-image

“What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates). This powerful quote exemplifies the mistreatment of blacks in America as something that has been prevalent throughout our nation’s history and is still present in our contemporary world. Our national founding document promised that “All men are created equal”. As a nation we have never achieved the goal of equality largely because of the institution of slavery and its continuing repercussions on American society.

On the other hand, some historians suggest that Lyndon B Johnson was insignificant in improving Civil Rights for African Americans during his presidency due to the Vietnam War. For example, “Johnson’s insistence on American involvement in Vietnam… placed a large strain on the economy” (source 3). This suggests that Johnson’s intentions regarding Vietnam overshadowed the commitment to Civil Rights. This has the potential to be prioritised over improving Civil Rights for African-Americans and less time and money to be put

Civil liberty issues have minimized in America through peaceful protests. In Martin Luther King Jr’s speech about the Vietnam War, he states that African Americans were “working for the health of [America]” (Source A). Although African Americans supported and

Illustrations of MLK's frustrations can be found in the 1966 document Beyond Vietnam “It seemed as if there were a real promise of hope for the poor, both black and white, through the property program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watch this 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 energy in rehabilitation of it’s poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and attack it as such.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the most influential people of this century. People remember King for his humanity, leadership and his love of his fellow man regardless of their skin color. Through reading King’s writings and speeches, that changed the world, one can learn that his values of integrity, love, truth, fairness, caring, non-violence, and peace were what motivated him to greatness. One of his less known speeches is “A Time to Break the Silence”, this speech was different than most of King’s speeches; the theme of this speech is not civil rights movement, but Vietnam. King addresses the war in Vietnam and he gives reasons why it should not continue.

In Port Chicago 50 the African American sailors fight for their rights during The World War II. A black sailor, Joe Small, told about his struggle saying, “In the base we had a lack of rights”. A lawyer, Thurgood Marshall read many letters about how the black sailors, soldiers and normal black people were unfairly treated just because of being black. After he (the lawyer) was unfairly treated because of being black. He read some amendments that said that black people had the same rights as the white people. Since then he decided to fight for black people rights. Also 50 black sailors were in a trial and are charged just because of being black, with things they didn’t did. That trial is more a fight for their rights in general than for

In the speech “ Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence”, Dr. King speaks out on the issues brought upon by the Vietnam War and how it has a negative impact on African Americans. He displays a frustrated and irritated tone to shed light on this problem in order to entice anger within the African American community of Harlem and call them to fight against social injustice and fight for their civil rights.

King once referred to the US government as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” during his 1967 Beyond Vietnam speech . This statement cannot be taken lightly as at this time King would have been a supporter of the Government in order to assist the Civil Rights Movement and therefore it would have been a great deal for him to speak out against their actions. For King to do so it highlights that the level of public disgust against the military action used in Vietnam was

My depiction of the world would be a world where forgiveness is not resisted. I envision a world where forgiveness is a course of action that is taken to resolve many problems. In life, many individuals have genuine hatred and anger toward others who have done them wrong. In life, many individuals are allowing this hatred and anger to cause additional problems. This can all be prevented if we allow ourselves to forgive. Dr. Martin Luther King once said “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies” (BrainyQuote, 2001a). Forgiveness is power. Having the ability to forgive is the only way to have the ability to love again, to grow, to become a better you.