On Martin Luther King Day: Echoes of Vietnam -- and King's controversial antiwar speech

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Editor&Publisher: On MLK Day: Echoes of Vietnam -- and King's Famous Speech
By Greg Mitchell
Published: January 15, 2007

....With echoes of Vietnam growing louder every day the war drags on -- or, even, escalates -- it seems appropriate on this Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to excerpt from one of the great civil rights leaders' most famous, and controversial speeches. It came 0n April 4, 1967, in New York City, and it's shocking to realize that at the time we had been fighting in large numbers in Vietnam for a shorter period than in the current war.

King was harshly criticized, by white and black leaders alike, for speaking out against the war, for two reasons: he should put all his energies into fighting for racial justice -- and his antiwar stance could only infuriate President Johnson (who was seen as a champion of equal rights) and hurt that cause.

But King knew that reversing course in Vietnam was a human and moral imperative and could not take a back seat to anything else.

The speech was not captured on video but audio recordings exist. What follows are excerpts from the text -- and then a link to a short video that incorporates some of the speech.

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"Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now.

I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and dealt death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours....

LINK TO VIDEO: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BlZ8nUijmQg

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