Dr. King's speech opposing Vietnam War

Dr. King's speech opposing Vietnam War

The following speech by Martin Luther King at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967 could easily have been about the Iraq war. One would think that this talk of Dr. King's would easily meet requirements for front-page placement in the media.

Firstly, it is clearly timely, given that today is ML King day, and the speech pertains directly to the Iraq war and addresses much of the current debate around that war:

* Is Iraq like Vietnam?

* Why are we halfway across the world, killing people who did us no harm?

* Why are we spending fantastic sums of money on the war and so little on domestic programs?

* Why are opponents of the war called "traitors" and "unpatriotic"?

* Why does the US continue to be "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today?"

Secondly, it is a very powerful speech and could well draw a significant audience.

So, why is it that the mainstream media chooses to ignore the antiwar, pro-economic justice side of Dr. King? Why is it that once a year we are repeatedly fed excerpts from the "I have a dream" speech and subjected to endless discussions of how far we have come in terms of interracial hand-holding? Why is it that questions, posed this very day to presidential candidates, on Dr. King's legacy never mention his antiwar stance, let alone link it to the Iraq war?

What's remarkable about people like Dr. King is their willingness to evolve -- to learn, and incorporate new information even if it means having to alter their positions. He could have played it safe -- done like many other civil rights leaders and ignored the Vietnam war. But he didn't and likely paid with his life for it.

And that most powerful legacy of Dr. King is censored by the mainstream media.

Shreeram

Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. against the Vietnam War

Excerpts of a Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967. This speech was released by Black Forum records, a subsidiary of Motown, and went on to win a Grammy in 1970 for the Best Spoken Word Recording. Text of entire speech is here

PLEASE NOTE: I tried to embed the video here, but failed. You can view the video if you click on the "source" or "original story" links below.

Posted by Shreeram at 1/21/2008 06:20:00 PM