Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Speech Beyond Vietnam

In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”, King asserts that the war in Vietnam is a “symptom” (7) of a much larger disease that affects the “American spirit” (7). The disease King mentions is causing destruction where ever it is found, and in the case of the Vietnam war, it has led to their oppression and the death of people. In the section, Strange Liberators, King states, “They move sadly and apathetically as we heard them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move or be destroyed by our bombs” (8). King believed that the disease was leading the United States to take drastic actions against the Vietnamese people. The U.S.

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.

Martin Luther King wants to led down the path of protest and dissent, making American far away from any wars by the speech “Beyond Vietnam—A Time to Break Silence.” He talking about several point which is connection between the war in Vietnam and he have been waging in American, war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home, no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war.

Racism has always been a major problem in America. However, it was known to be the most problematic in the late 1950s. On August 28 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his infamous speech “I Have a Dream” to America. His dream highlighted the injustices of segregation and discrimination of African Americans that took place in this nation every single day. Dr. King inspired thousands despite the color of their skin, to take a stance against racism, with his powerful way with words. In his speech MLK efficaciously uses, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos by using allusions, developing credibility, in his speech to persuade all Americans to be aware of the problems with racism.

“Beyond Vietnam-A Time to Break Silence” is an article written by Martin Luther King Jr himself. King is effectively able to convey his point about his topic by using rhetorical devices such as logos, ethos, pathos.

The Vietnam War made impacts on the movement back home. As in 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. even went against his own beliefs of not speaking out about the war he began preaching that it is truly sad to see African American people and the poor who can not make a living, being drafted (Doc C). Not only were they being drafted they were also dying at a much higher rate then just about every other group in society (Doc C). MLK also stated that these individuals were fighting to establish peace and rights over in Vietnam, while they did not even have these for themselves (Doc C). During the Vietnam years there still was some of the American population who supported the war, but would not speak out publicly about supporting the actions. This group was given the name the silent majority. Richard Nixon while in office spoke out about the group saying that the silent majority needs to speak out publicly as all the messages going around about the war are negative (Doc G). He also said in his speech that even though some people may not like the war everyone should help in the mind of creating peace in South Vietnam and that without everyone coming together in the nation that the US military could be defeated in the war (Doc

Martin Luther King was firmly against the war in Vietnam. He successfully and eloquently pointed out many of the injustices and hypocrisies of the war. First the war disproportionately affects the poor by drawing away government resources that would otherwise benefit the poor. Second, the draft pulled mainly from poor communities as those more affluent could avoid the draft through college deferments or other means. As a result, poor communities suffer more as young men die. “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”. (MLK- A Time to Break Silence Par 5) Third, that the American use of violence to solve its problems was both immoral and also destined to fail and incompatible with American values of self determination. Fourth, by supporting anti-communist despots we undermine our message of peace and prosperity. “...as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support. All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform. Now they languish under our bombs and

On April 4th, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York, a speech was given and the silence was broken. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech was given to persuade everyone into believing that american involvement during the Vietnam War was wrong. Throughout Martin Luther King Jr’s speech he builds a very strong argument, against american involvement during the Vietnam War, by using different writing appeals and elements.

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 Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “Beyond Vietnam—A 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. Dr. King’s purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that the time has come for them to speak out loudly in opposition of the war in Vietnam. He offers many practical reasons for the opposition, as well as spiritual and moral reasons. He then outlines the history of the war in Vietnam, showing that he is not simply preaching about religious ideals. He also makes an

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.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Martin Luther King Jr. In 1967, King separated himself from the world and hid from the Civil Rights Movement. King writes out his thoughts, plans, and dreams for America’s future. As part of this plan he mentions what would come with this dream and that’s better jobs, houses, higher incomes, and better education. Most importantly King speaks out against the war. Kings speech titled “Beyond Vietnam”. Which explains the relationship of the Civil Rights and peace movement. King asked that all bombing stop in North and South Vietnam be an agreement and remove all troops and give the people of slavery a decision on reaching agreements. King believed that the Vietnam War took money and attention from programs that helped the poor. Furthermore, King said “the war was doing far more devastating the hopes of the poor at home 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 (Martin Luther King, Jr speaks out against the war, ‘1967)

MLK, “Beyond Vietnam-A Time to Break Silence.” For centuries, Martin Luther King Jr. has been an activist we read about in textbooks, a true leader. Many people remember him for his views on African American equatily; however, King did also feel strongly about other topics including the Vietnam war. Through the speech “Beyond Vietnam-A Time to Break Silence.”

The title of this passage is “Beyond Vietnam -A Time to Break silence Adapted from MLK” the title is based of the writers feeling ,it’s time to break silence .This passage also relates to Martin Luther King .There are many reasons to bring up Vietnam ,There was Black And white people and they had to go to poverty programs ,this gave them hope and basically a redo on life, but when Vietnam had soon been at rise and this caused the program to be broken .Of course America was greedy and did nothing to help these people. Vietnam decided to draw men back to back , more and more ,black and white.The war was a persons and poverty's enemy .

Martin Luther King Jr’s, “Declaration of Independence from War in Vietnam” speech shows different tones through the speech including: enraged, candid and uplifting. MLK Jr., expresses his feelings towards the Vietnam War. He knows that the war was fighting for something in Vietnam, but they can’t even make it happen in their own country.