MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACT: Ira
Arlook, Fenton Communications, c: 202 258-5437
Terry Provance Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee, terryprovance@gmail.com,
202 686-7483
Famous MLK Anti-War Speech Draws New Attention 50 Years
Later
The prophetic
anti-war speech given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967 is
drawing attention from today's activists young and old. Sponsored by Clergy and
Laity Concerned and delivered at the Riverside Church in New York City to an
overflow crowd, Dr. King's controversial "Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break
Silence," marked a turning point in bringing together the civil rights,
anti-poverty and antiwar causes.
The speech is now being used to call attention to the
ongoing reality of the racism, materialism and militarism triplets and other
issues identified by Dr. King in the speech given 50 years ago. His profound
challenge to the status quo domestically and internationally led to 200
critical editorials, including in the New York Times and Washington Post.
"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side
of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of
values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing-oriented' society to a
'person-oriented' society. When machines and computers, profit motives and
property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets
of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. … We
are confronted by the fierce urgency of Now."
--Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church
An array of events
rooted in the message of the speech will continue through the year until April
4, 2018, the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination. Sponsors include the
Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee, The National Council of Elders,
Riverside Church, and The Shalom Center.
They include
events as varied as 40 days of Lenten devotions which began March 1, to an
April 18 tax day protest in Oakland CA, and many other observances.
On April 2d "Finding Common Ground: Linking the
Struggles against Poverty Racism and War" will be discussed at 4 p.m. in
South Bend, Indiana by representatives from Kroc Institute, Civil Rights
Heritage Center and South Bend Heritage Foundation. In Detroit,
Congressman John Conyers will participate in the reading of the speech.
Speaking at the Chicago Temple at 1:30 on April 2d is Sherri Bevel, co-founder of the Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training and the daughter of civil rights legends James Bevel and Diane Nash. www.chipeaceaction.org
On April 3, in Detroit, Michigan, defendants charged with various offenses for impeding the shut off of water to poor Detroiters will read the speech in front of the 36th District Courthouse where they await trial or verdicts.
Speaking at the Chicago Temple at 1:30 on April 2d is Sherri Bevel, co-founder of the Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training and the daughter of civil rights legends James Bevel and Diane Nash. www.chipeaceaction.org
On April 3, in Detroit, Michigan, defendants charged with various offenses for impeding the shut off of water to poor Detroiters will read the speech in front of the 36th District Courthouse where they await trial or verdicts.
Riverside Church will live-stream a discussion about the speech between
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow and longtime activist Ruby Sales
on April 4 beginning at 7 PM EDT. http://www.beyondthedream50.org/events/beyond-vietnam-50th-anniversary
"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. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an
enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. "
--Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church
From 1:00 – 2:30
PM, April 4, a program at the Church Center for the United Nations will
discuss the relevance of the speech to the UN. The program includes Ambassador
Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of
the United Nations. It is sponsored by the Committee of Religious NGOs at the
United Nations and the Chaplain's Office, Church Center for the UN.
The speech will
also be the foundation of interfaith, intergenerational dialogue and workshops
at New York Ave. Presbyterian Church in Washington DC on April 4, from
12:30 -5 PM organized by The Shalom Center. The day will culminate with a
multireligious Call to Prayerful Action, including talks by Rev. Aundreia
Alexander, Bishop Dwayne Royster (Political Director, PICO National Network),
and Congressman Jamie Raskin. At 5 p.m. participants will March to the White
House where they will hold a vigil.
A panel of experts
at Stanford University will discuss the speech at 7 p.m. on April 4th
sponsored by The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.
Included are author and television personality Tavis Smiley, King legal advisor
Clarence B. Jones, and King Institute director Clayborne Carson. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/events/fiftieth-anniversary-martin-luther-king-jr-s-most-controversial-speech-beyond-vietnam
"Surely 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 in 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. "
--Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church
Veterans for Peace Chapter 61 is doing a reading of the
speech in St Louis and installing a Peace Pole at the Tomas Dunn
Learning Center in a local public park on April 4. Former staff of the
Mennonite Central Committee in Vietnam are hosting a reading in their home in Harrisonburg,
VA.
Chicago will witness King linked events on
April 4th organized by Teachers for Social Justice with a rally at Federal
Plaza at 3:30 and a teach-in at the Teachers Union at 5:30. Veterans for Peace
is co-sponsoring a community reading followed by hands-on art development and
discussion at 7:30 pm at the First Unitarian Church in Hyde Park.
In Cincinnati
the King program will be sponsored by the Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition
of Greater Cincinnati with the Faith Community Alliance and the Cincinnati
Branch of the NAACP.
"Acting in the Spirit of Dr. King: Now Is Our Time to Break Silence" is being organized in Los Angeles by the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and Justice Not Jails at 7 p.m April 4th in the Macedonia Baptist Church.
The Grass Roots Movement for Social Justice has
called upon its 50 local groups to organize or join April 4th events linked to
their agenda for "Indigenous Sovereignty, Self Determination for Black and
Brown communities, visions for expanded sanctuary, Just Transition, grassroots
feminism, LGBTQIA rights and economic justice for workers, renters, the
unemployed and the poor."
"If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and
in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. 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. The world now demands a maturity of
America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit we have
been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been
detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. The situation is one in which
we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. In order to atone for
our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a
halt to this tragic war. "
--Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church
In Des Moines,
on April 9, at 3 p.m. a procession led by a donkey will start from Grace United
Methodist Church, 38th & Cottage Grove and end with a prayer service at
First Christian Church, 25th & University. Actor Aaron Smith will reenact
Dr King's sermon.
A six week Lenten
study series based on King's address takes place on Wednesday evenings at
Circle of Mercy Congregation in Asheville, North Carolina.
April 18th, Tax
Day, a broad spectrum of California Bay Area citizens will read Dr. King's
speech at 12 noon, 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. from the steps of the Federal Building in Oakland,
CA.
The 2017 Ecumenical Advocacy Days of the National Council
of Churches of Christ in Crystal City, VA on April 21 will use the
speech to "analyze the Christian foundations of their common work to
create the 'Beloved Community' where the social, political, and economic rights
of all are respected and people are able to realize their full potential as
children of God." http://www.advocacydays.org/2017-confronting-chaos/pre-conference-event
Also on the weekend
of April 21-23 the Cape Cod Council of Churches and university programs
at Cape Cod Community College and Boston University will undertake readings,
music and potluck meals. King did his post-graduate studies at Boston
University.
Many other events are taking place in classrooms, churches,
community centers and other locations.
"A true revolution of values will lay hand 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 the veins of
peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields
physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with
wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend
more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death."
--Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church
The Vietnam
Peace Commemoration Committee came together in 2015 to encourage an
accurate portrayal of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war and of the role
of the peace movement in ending it. VPCC grew out of a broadly supported challenge to the Pentagon's one-sided commemoration of the war and the May 1-2, 2015 conference in Washington, "Vietnam: The Power of Protest". Its perspective on the
speech anniversary can be found here http://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-call-to-break-silence.html
The National
Council of Elders was born out of a vision shared by Dr. Vincent Harding,
Rev. James Lawson and his brother Rev. Phil Lawson to engage 20th century
organizers committed to the theory and practice of nonviolence with organizers
of the 21st century. www.kingandbreakingsilence.com
The contacts below can supply additional details and arrange
interviews.
Vietnam Peace
Commemoration Committee--Terry Provance: terryprovance@gmail.com, 202 686-7483
National
Council of Elders--Frank
Joyce: fjoyce512@gmail.com;
313.825.1117
The Shalom
Center—Rabbi Arthur
Waskow: awaskow@theshalomcenter.org;
(215) 844-8494
U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, #RevolutionOfValues--Arlene
Goldbard: arlene@arlenegoldbard.com;
415-690-9992
http://www.kingandbreakingsilence.com
Video excerpts from a 2016 reading of the speech at Central Methodist
Church in Detroit are here: https://vimeo.com/198735673
A PBS documentary by Tavis Smiley on King's speech and the controversy
it generated can be seen here http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/mlk-a-call-to-conscience/
The full text of the speech can be read here http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/
For updates, go to http://tinyurl.com/Kingprograms
and http://www.kingandbreakingsilence.com/calendar/
For updates, go to http://tinyurl.com/Kingprograms
and http://www.kingandbreakingsilence.com/calendar/
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