Dept. of Remembrance
"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"
Today, the official day we commemorated the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we heard a lot about his "I Have A Dream" speech, and that speech is absolutely part of the American landscape, as it should be.
But what too many of us - too many school kids, too many adults, too many union members, too many progressives - have never heard is the speech Rev. King made on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. He gave it at Riverside Church in New York, a speech his friend and fellow activist Vincent Gordon Harding drafted on his behalf, and he made it his own.
It excoriated the Vietnam War as inherently immoral because of what it did across the Pacific, and what it allowed the powers that be in this country to ignore at home. It pinpointed the evils of American exceptionalism, it stated baldly that America's interference in other country's attempts to be free - as Americans felt they had a right to do in 1776 - would lead to America's destruction as a moral and ethical society. And it stated that racism, poverty and war must all be faced and fought.
As the Wikipedia article blandly notes, King lost support from White liberals, unionists (to their shame), previously sympathetic politicians and even other African American civil rights activists.
He was no longer The Good Negro, who could be depended upon for quiet and polite nonviolence, as opposed to Malcolm X. He was never that to begin with, but White America, the part of it that didn't outright hate King and wish for his death, told itself that that's what he was.
He must have known this would mean he would, once again, be hated and vilified (although he was hurt by those in the civil rights movement who abandoned him.) He must have known that those American politicians and law enforcers would hate him even more, and would redouble their efforts to silence him.
He must have known that the hatred might lead - might well lead - to his death.
And he gave it nonetheless, because he knew it was the truth, and the country he loved despite itself needed to hear it.
Listen, please. It's a little over 56 minutes long. He gives it, not with the passion of "I Have A Dream", but with the steady, sonorous, unsparing voice of the God in which he believed. Don't let that steady drone dissuade you; listen to his words.
This should be taught in every American classroom. There's a reason it isn't.
This entry was originally posted at https://kaffy-r.dreamwidth.org/818958.html?mode=reply, where there are currently
comments. You can comment there or here, but prefer to read over on DW. You can comment there using open ID if you don't have a DW account.
Today, the official day we commemorated the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we heard a lot about his "I Have A Dream" speech, and that speech is absolutely part of the American landscape, as it should be.
But what too many of us - too many school kids, too many adults, too many union members, too many progressives - have never heard is the speech Rev. King made on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. He gave it at Riverside Church in New York, a speech his friend and fellow activist Vincent Gordon Harding drafted on his behalf, and he made it his own.
It excoriated the Vietnam War as inherently immoral because of what it did across the Pacific, and what it allowed the powers that be in this country to ignore at home. It pinpointed the evils of American exceptionalism, it stated baldly that America's interference in other country's attempts to be free - as Americans felt they had a right to do in 1776 - would lead to America's destruction as a moral and ethical society. And it stated that racism, poverty and war must all be faced and fought.
As the Wikipedia article blandly notes, King lost support from White liberals, unionists (to their shame), previously sympathetic politicians and even other African American civil rights activists.
He was no longer The Good Negro, who could be depended upon for quiet and polite nonviolence, as opposed to Malcolm X. He was never that to begin with, but White America, the part of it that didn't outright hate King and wish for his death, told itself that that's what he was.
He must have known this would mean he would, once again, be hated and vilified (although he was hurt by those in the civil rights movement who abandoned him.) He must have known that those American politicians and law enforcers would hate him even more, and would redouble their efforts to silence him.
He must have known that the hatred might lead - might well lead - to his death.
And he gave it nonetheless, because he knew it was the truth, and the country he loved despite itself needed to hear it.
Listen, please. It's a little over 56 minutes long. He gives it, not with the passion of "I Have A Dream", but with the steady, sonorous, unsparing voice of the God in which he believed. Don't let that steady drone dissuade you; listen to his words.
This should be taught in every American classroom. There's a reason it isn't.
Click to viewThis entry was originally posted at https://kaffy-r.dreamwidth.org/818958.html?mode=reply, where there are currently
comments. You can comment there or here, but prefer to read over on DW. You can comment there using open ID if you don't have a DW account.