The church maintains an active social justice mission today. Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech that startled even many of his supporters in the Civil Rights Movement. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. It is not addressed to China or to Russia. His speech grows deeply sarcastic at times. So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. Right at the outset, King involves religious figures to establish the credibility for his reason and to prove that war was improper and inhuman. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. 3 His bold assertion is further bolstered on several grounds. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls “enemy,” for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers. I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. Some civil rights leaders urged King not to speak out on the Vietnam War, but he said he could not separate issues of economic injustice, racism, war, and militarism. War makes the innocent lose hope and leaves behind horrific memories for generations on both sides. We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched 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 energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch antirevolutionaries. Or will there be another message — of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. To get his point through and make the meaning clear, King uses phrases like “break the silence of the night”, “a vocation of agony”, ‘based upon the mandates of conscience’, ‘deeper level of awareness’. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent. War was an inhuman and barbaric exercise and America’s participation was not in human interest. Three: Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand and our interference in Laos. The neo-gothic Riverside Church in New York City has a long history of progressive leaders and activism, dating back to its opening in October, 1930. In fact, he employs ethos, logos, and pathos to get his intended meaning across. contact: [email protected], [email protected], https://nolongerinvisiblemen.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/sparknotes-for-martin-luther-king-jr-s-a-time-to-break-silence/, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm, Navigating the Job Market During and After COVID-19, 4 Vital Considerations for Businesses Implementing the Internet of Things, How to Build a Sales & Marketing Funnel to Increase Sales Conversions, How To Make Online Marketing Your Business’s New Best Friend. Rhetorical Analysis of MLK's Speech "Beyond Vietnam" Widely known for his work in the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr eventually also gained momentum in the anti-war movement against the war in Vietnam. Addressing a crowd of 3,000 at Riverside Church in New York City, King condemned the war as anti-democratic, impractical, and unjust. The war according to King Jr. is nothing more than a political game played for the sake of fun and ego. I still think this is probably the best.”, “It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor — both black and white — through the poverty program. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. King Jr knew that war creates confusion and that his audience’s mind was boggled with questions. 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 … The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. Reflecting on what speech vietnam beyond jr luther martin king analysis s going on here. However, his words while they aim to bring the pain of the Vietnamese alive before the audience also include a request that a progressive nation should stand with humanity and not lose control of its feelings. What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? To help his audience see that Vietnam is only madness, a wastage of resources and an ignorance of more pressing concerns, King once again affirms that war was never a means of peace. King claimed that America made “ peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments ” (King, “ … When Diem was overthrown they may have been happy, but the long line of military dictators seemed to offer no real change, especially in terms of their need for land and peace. We must continue to raise our voices and our lives if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam. Five: Set a date that we will remove all foreign troops from Vietnam in accordance with the 1954 Geneva Agreement. Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. The impacts of dialogues on the audience will also be evaluated. My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness, for it grows out of my experience in the ghettoes of the North over the last three years — especially the last three summers. He includes various perspectives and addresses several counterarguments with the intention to prove the futility of war as a tool to address social, economic and political problems. For those who ask the question, “Aren’t you a civil rights leader?” and thereby mean to exclude me from the movement for peace, I have this further answer. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a fervent anti-war speech, departing from his message of civil rights and railing against the Vietnam War. Since I am a preacher by calling, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. The war was only going to consume lives and resources. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism (unquote). He drafted several speeches for King over the years and eventually became the first director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity, and injustice, which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops. The speech is considered a turning point in the public opinion’s of the Vietnam War. Soldier of the 25th Infantry Division, c., 1969. What of the National Liberation Front, that strangely anonymous group we call “VC” or “communists”? These, too, are our brothers. They will be concerned about Guatemala — Guatemala and Peru. 2 In an article titled, “Beyond Vietnam-A time to Break Silence.”, he tries to provide compelling evidence and sound reasoning to decry America’s involvement in Vietnam war. America never was America to me, The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. One of Martin Luther King Jr.’s lesser known yet equally impactful speeches, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” condemns the violence and atrocities committed by the U.S against the Vietnamese in their foolish bid to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. Now there is little left to build on, save bitterness. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. In this paper the speech “Beyond Vietnam” of Martin Luther king will be analyzed through the framework of Neo-Aristotelian criticism. 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.”. The persuasive techniques utilized by King Jr are aimed at making people think over the outcomes of Vietnam war and if it was not against America’s integrity. Over the last eight years, I have had the privilege of preaching here almost every year in that period, and it is always a rich and rewarding experience to come to this great church and this great pulpit. He means to make people ask questions of themselves and ponder over the meaninglessness and uselessness of war and what would remain behind once the war was over. Both religion and society condemn war and even popular religious figures have stood up to speak against it for the toll it takes upon human lives and for it is against the spirit of humanity and brotherhood. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. At this point I should make it clear that while I have tried in these last few minutes to give a voice to the voiceless in Vietnam and to understand the arguments of those who are called “enemy,” I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers. We have destroyed their land and their crops. What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is this vocation of sonship and brotherhood, and because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned especially for his suffering and helpless and outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them. That speech, entitled Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break The Silence, was an unequivocal denunciation of America’s involvement in that Southeast Asian conflict. The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality…and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing “clergy and laymen concerned” committees for the next generation. And they are surely right to wonder what kind of new government we plan to help form without them, the only party in real touch with the peasants. In a way we were agreeing with Langston Hughes, that black bard of Harlem, who had written earlier: O, yes, It is just a continuation of the regimes that have been trying to oppress the Vietnamese. Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam: a Time to Break Silence" 1000 Words | 4 Pages. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. BEYOND VIETNAM April 4, 1967, Riverside Church, NYC. Part of our ongoing — Part of our ongoing commitment might well express itself in an offer to grant asylum to any Vietnamese who fears for his life under a new regime which included the Liberation Front. We must stop now. They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. King Jr delivered his “Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence” in 1967 in NewYork City. I say we must enter that struggle, but I wish to go on now to say something even more disturbing. What must they be thinking when they know that we are aware of their control of major sections of Vietnam, and yet we appear ready to allow national elections in which this highly organized political parallel government will not have a part? “A true revolution of values will lay hands 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 veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.”, Interior of Riverside Church on W. 120th Street in Manhattan. Tax ID: 26-2810489. 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. All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate — ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: “Let us love one another, for love is God. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end, unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be here tonight, and how very delighted I am to see you expressing your concern about the issues that will be discussed tonight by turning out in such large numbers. Let us not join those who shout war and, through their misguided passions, urge the United States to relinquish its participation in the United Nations. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing — embracing and unconditional love for all mankind. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us. In this way, he tries to stress that even if we have progressed, we have grown nowhere better than the ancient barbarians that killed for fun. America will be! And finally, as I try to explain for you and for myself the road that leads from Montgomery to this place I would have offered all that was most valid if I simply said that I must be true to my conviction that I share with all men the calling to be a son of the living God. The only change came from America, as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on. 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. Christina Knight is Managing Editor of Institutional Marketing at WNET. Now let us begin. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men. “Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. The belief of the clergy took the theme of silence is betrayal. Read a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King Jr’s Beyond Vietnam: Time to break silence. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately, the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horrible, clumsy, and deadly game we have decided to play. After more than a decade in the public eye fighting racism and inequality in America, King plunged himself into another searing, divisive issue in America with his speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, given at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967. Apart from being an advocate of Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of nonviolence, Martin Luther King Jr was a great leader and rhetor of all times. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. And so we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would hardly live on the same block in Chicago. It was they who led a second struggle against French domination at tremendous costs, and then were persuaded to give up the land they controlled between the thirteenth and seventeenth parallel as a temporary measure at Geneva. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. Recently one of them wrote these words, and I quote: Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. They question our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded. Regarding choosing “Beyond Vietnam” for the title when the country was deep in the middle of the war, Harding recalled in an interview with Tavis Smiley, “this is more than a simple case of getting out of Vietnam. The “Beyond Vietnam” speech was, indeed, a “Call to Conscience”! It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, delivers a speech entitled “Beyond Vietnam” in … Moreover, it is the poor and the helpless mainly who are falling prey to this war game. Also, it must be clear that the leaders of Hanoi considered the presence of American troops in support of the Diem regime to have been the initial military breach of the Geneva Agreement concerning foreign troops. Apart from being an advocate of Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of nonviolence, Martin Luther King Jr was a great leader and rhetor of all times. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. Fifty years ago on April 4, 1967, our prophet Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the historic speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” at New York City’s Riverside Church. I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. Members get extended access to PBS video on demand and more. And of course it’s always good to come back to Riverside church. We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise. Perhaps only his sense of humor and of irony can save him when he hears the most powerful nation of the world speaking of aggression as it drops thousands of bombs on a poor, weak nation more than eight hundred — rather, eight thousand miles away from its shores. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. In this way, he condemns and questions the Vietnam war and its relevance at a time when America had several of its own major problems to address. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. In his speech on the meaninglessness of the Vietnam war and to persuade the audience to listen to its own conscience rather than to conform to the idea of war in the name of patriotism, King Jr draws from the realms of economy, society, polity as well as religion and philosophy. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Apart from highlighting the wicked nature of the war, King Jr ‘s speech also sets the urgency for protest. In this paper I will seek to determine the scholarly disregard of the rhetorical strategies that King adopted in his speech … King Jr makes a strong statement against war and his speech successfully evokes compassion and sympathy for the poor and the weak in both Vietnam and America. 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. In the light of such tragic misunderstanding, I deem it of signal importance to try to state clearly, and I trust concisely, why I believe that the path from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church — the church in Montgomery, Alabama, where I began my pastorate — leads clearly to this sanctuary tonight. How can they trust us when now we charge them with violence after the murderous reign of Diem and charge them with violence while we pour every new weapon of death into their land? While his words clearly deliver his disappointment over the path American government had chosen, it also expresses a clear intention to not be with the wrong and instead listen to one’s inner voice. As that noble bard of yesterday, James Russell Lowell, eloquently stated: Once to every man and nation comes a moment to decide, There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood. This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation’s self-defined goals and positions. I heard him speak so many times. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries. Their questions are frighteningly relevant. He notes how essential it is to break silence before all hope is lost. So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children. The peasants watched and cringed as Diem ruthlessly rooted out all opposition, supported their extortionist landlords, and refused even to discuss reunification with the North. Perhaps a more difficult but no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as our enemies. ... 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