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| This picture shows MLK protesting the Vietnam War with other protesters. Sources: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/beyond-vietnam |
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Vietnam Research Exercise Evan Burkart (MLK)
On April 4th 1967 Martin Luther King gave his "Beyond Vietnam" speech at Riverside Church in New York City. This was an anti-Vietnam and pro-social justice speech, which made people all around the world have mixed emotions about the speech and the war that was going on at the time. King talked about all the problems that were happening at the time and what was happening in Vietnam, he explained that America could be spending their money on other things such as poverty and fixing racism. He felt it was wrong to send young men to a new country to serve for a country that had treated them so poorly. Martin Luther King felt that the war was a horrible thing and it should not have been happening. This made people begin to protest against the war all around the United States. King thought that the U.S. government should withdrawal the troops from Vietnam and should stop bombing North and South Vietnam. He believed they were wasting money that should be spent more on the poor blacks in America. King said "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." King maintained his antiwar stance and supporting peace movements until he was assassinated on April 4th 1968. On the other hand many people who supported the war began to distance themselves from King, many popular news companies and people around the U.S. call King's speech a "mistake". While others began to call it King's most important speech. Martin Luther King repeatedly rejected the sunny optimism of his I have a Dream speech and began to say that his dream had turned into a nightmare. Martin Luther King had tried to stay silent about his opinion about the war, but after he saw a picture in the paper of a Vietnamese boy burning he had decided to stick up for what he thought was right, which led to the "Beyond Vietnam" speech.
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This is really interesting to learn about because I never learned about this speech in high school is it odd to me because it seems like a very controversial speech. I wonder why we didn't learn about this speech while we were in school learning about the Vietnam War
ReplyDeleteI think this speech should be taught in school just like his "I Have a Dream" speech. It shows his ideas on war very well, outlining why he believes young people shouldn't be sent and what the money should be used on. This speech is strong and impactful, but very controversial. This truly was one of his best speeches, and should be analyzed more today.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your research, I think it was completely unfair that MLK was receiving so much hate for this. some agree with his views on that war specifically and some don't, obviously. King received a lot of hate, but he stood for his decisions.
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