"...we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us...."

[laststeamtrain]

Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence

Delivered 4 April 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City

"...we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.

"Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: "Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King?" "Why are you joining the voices of dissent?" "Peace and civil rights don't mix," they say. "Aren't you hurting the cause of your people," they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live..." - Martin Luther King, Jr.


Transcript & audio:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

[niyad]

1. k and r

[StarfarerBill]

2. K&R

[jasi2006]

3. This speech, to me, was the best MLK ever delivered.

Thanks for posting.

[eridani]

4. One of my (lesser known) favorite quotes

"Love is not the answer. It is the assignment."