MLK: A Time to Break Silence
From a speech delivered by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1967 at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City.
I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statements of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart, and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.
The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.
And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.
The complete speech is moving and wise beyond its time and can be read in its entirety here.
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MLK advocated conscientious objection to young men who were at risk of being shipped to Vietnam. Where are today’s leaders who can rally young Americans with a similar conviction and intensity? For obvious reasons that person wont come from the political arena. Where is that person, I wonder?
That person is in our community and yours as well. They are the ones who have stood strong at vigils and protests against the Iraq Catastrophe. Let’s recognize those individuals who, when it was unfashionable, took a stand against this disaster.
I would be very proud to see Senator Kerry publicly recognize small community groups that have worked to end this disaster. One group I can think of is here in the reddest of districts (the district that Tammy Duckworth lost) is DuPage Against War Now (DAWN). They have been very active and real leaders in the war against the war. I encourage Senator Kerry to use the opportunity to recognize DAWN as a means to demonstrate that not only Democrats, but Republican citizens as well are working in the community to save this country from a misguided President.
Thanks for this terrific post. Everyone should read the entire speech.
Yesterday I posted a question on another forum: What is the basis for the premise that the U.S. is beholden to occupy Iraq even though an overwhelming majority of Iraqis want U.S. troops out of their country?
MLK gave me the answer:
The Iraq war too was based on a lie. There are war crimes being committed. The Bush admin destroyed Iraq for no other reason than to steal its oil and depose its leader (and sanction his hanging). An overwhelming majority of Iraqis and most Americans are demanding an end to the occupation.
The only thing keeping U.S. combat troops in Iraq is Bush’s arrogance.
Posted by oncall | January 15, 2007 9:57 AM
Senator Kerry has always believed in dissent, “speaking truth to power”, and has always believed that citizens have the right to dissent, whether it is war or any other issue, which they as citizens think is wrong.
As he said in his speech “A Right and Responsibility to Speak Out” on April, 22nd 2006:
As Senator Kerry said in response to a question at his October, 26th 2005 speech ( http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/speech.html?id=3) : “There is no more important word other than love then citizen”.
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Thanks for the interesting post on MLK. It would be nice to see more posts honoring MLK life and work.
As I read this speech, I came to the passage below and it gave me pause, and I began to think how difficult and dangerous it is to speak out and to speak truth to power.
“And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.”
Sometimes no matter what the cost may be, the times and circumstances are too important to remain silent and I remember these words spoken by Dr. King,
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”
There are lessons and warnings in the words of Dr. King and it is important that we learn the lessons and heed the warnings, but no matter what the cost we must speak out when the circunstances cry for a new direction and we are witnessing injustices.
I remember Senator Kerry’s comments from Rosa Parks funeral,
“The bus still comes by again and again and each time we have to decide whether to go quietly to the back, or by simple acts of courage and conviction change the direction of our own country’s journey.”
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1032
And in 2005, on the day we honor Martin Luther King, Senator Kerry gave a speech in Boston that contained this passage,
Every Martin Luther King Day, we ask ourselves, ‘what if Dr. King had lived?’ But this year we should challenge ourselves to ask the question not what would Dr. King have done had he lived, but what would he want us to do with the time we have left.
http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/cfm/record.cfm?id=230679
Senator Kerry honors Dr. King’s legacy by accepting the responsibility of trying to right our country when it is wrong and to speak truth to power. Rather than just honoring Martin Luther King on his birthday, he honors him by living his words and accepting the sometimes dangerous challanges that face our country.
Thank you, Violet, for starting this thread, and for providing the link to the entire MLK speech. That link also has AUDIO, too; listening to it while reading the transcript is almost overwhelming.
Posted by wisteria | January 15, 2007 12:57 PM
And thank you, Wisteria, for your excellent post. I had not known that Sen. Kerry had spoken at Rosa Parks’ funeral, so had not seen the speech. Thanks very much for providing a link to the full transcript. The excerpt you posted was wonderful, and this second bit, later in the speech, seems a fitting PS:
“For Rosa Parks and for our country, it is our time to oppose prejudice not appease it; to dispel the fear of some towards others, not exploit it; to lift up the many - not the few, and to uphold the true patriotism that does what is right, not which justifies injustice or past errors.
“Sometimes the days seem heavy and the odds seem high, but that moment on a bus in Montgomery always comes. Someone gets on that bus, refuses to equivocate or yield and changes history. Today, that someone must be us, for Rosa Parks and for our country.”
These are words that describe Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and John Kerry.
I agree that listening to the audio of Dr. King’s speeches is even more powerful than reading them. Dr. King was a preacher, a skilled orator, and his choice of language and phrasing was shaped by the cadence and the sound of the words as they were spoken, not just read. We are fortunate that so many recordings of Dr. King’s speeches exist for us today.
We are not fortunate, however, to note that so many of the things he said forty years ago still ring so true for us today. He was speaking about Vietnam then; we are speaking about Iraq today. But the same issues and the same problems keep echoing down the years nonetheless.
Dr. King said that the war in Vietnam was an illegal war, an immoral war, a war that threw away the lives of young Americans and destroyed the very country that they were supposedly sent there to defend. He indicted the large corporations and war profiteers whose political influences in the name of greed were allowed to trump the principles of peace and justice. He called the government of his day to task for initiating such horrible carnage, and challenged the citizens of his day to unite and rise up in opposition to that egregious war for empire that had so blackened America’s heart and soul before the entire world community.
The fact that we are still calling for the citizenry to unite and rise up in opposition to an egregious war for empire today is nothing short of appalling. How can it be that we have learned nothing in the forty years since Dr. King closed his speech that day with these flowing words?
“And if we will only make the right choice, we will be able to transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace.
“If we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
“If we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over America and all over the world, when justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The less things change, the more they stay insane. So it is incumbent upon all of us, you and I and the persons we elected us to represent us in Washington, to stop the insanity and insist on change now, not later. It is our responsibility to answer Dr. King’s call and to insist that our country makes the right choices when it comes to the Middle East now, not later.
This is a time for courage, not complicity. This is a time for action, not acquiescence. This is a time to make things right, not make things worse. We can’t sit back and let someone else demand the return of sanity to our government’s affairs any more than we can sit back and let that government force its insanity upon a people half a world away.
Forty years ago, Dr. King called us to action. Today it is on us, on *all* of us, to heed that call. In honor of his memory, and in honor of the memories of all who have given their lives since he spoke those words, we can do no less.
I don’t know why I’m finding it sadder today to think of MLK than I did 6 years ago. I think it has to do with the fact that there are more Vietnam comparisons. And the previous election included so much more hate speech.
A favorite MLK quote of mine:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Thank you Violet.
Senator Kerry talked about the Martin Luther King Day back in 2003 in Richmond, Virginia:
Thank you Senator Kerry.
Citizen.
That each American would serve this country and work to create that ideal that our Founding Fathers intended.
Citizen.
That each American would believe that the law applied equally to them as much as to any other American whether they be President or minimum wage earner.
Citizen.
A nation made up of citizens working together to protect each of our freedoms and recognizing the protections of the Constitution for each of its inhabitants.
Thank you Senator Kerry for those words in 2003 and your words today. And as a “citizen”, I must ask you to….
“Run, John, Run!” America is calling!
John Kerry for President 2008
Otter…thank you for your beautiful and inspirational words. Two of your thoughts that stand out for me:
“We are not fortunate, however, to note that so many of the things he said forty years ago still ring so true for us today. He was speaking about Vietnam then; we are speaking about Iraq today. But the same issues and the same problems keep echoing down the years nonetheless.”
“The fact that we are still calling for the citizenry to unite and rise up in opposition to an egregious war for empire today is nothing short of appalling. How can it be that we have learned nothing in the forty years since Dr. King closed his speech that day with these flowing words?”
It is beyond belief that so many seem to have learned nothing. For those of us who remember the lessons…we must speak out and we must TEACH.
Thank you for the education. The 1967 speech in its entirety, written and audio, was a moving eye opener. Would anyone like to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.‘s birthday by speaking out against the use of four point restraints for days in U.S. prisons? Hundreds of recent deaths are attributed to them. A 40 year old mother who lost her 21 year old son to them this summer has composed a petition to sign. Would anyone celebrate by helping with it? Links to articles and the petition are below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/opinion/15harco [...]
The petition to sign against restraint use in prisons:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/993275606#body
The AMA definition of torture:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8421.html
http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/starke/4point.html
Matthew 25:40
Off topic:
Please do me, and probably others, a favor. At the end of the most recent CNN video we are subjected to looking at George Bush standing and looking squarely at us ala Big Brother. Please try to clip the video so we are not subjected to that miserable image.
Senator Kerry,
Before today, I felt uncomfortable telling you how to decide for 2008. Running for president is so tough and so nasty, and will be very hard on your family. The media, the Republicans, and competing Democrats will no doubt be insufferable. I realize this is your decision, and your decision alone, but I feel I can no longer stay silent. Please, I am asking you—will you run for president again?
I have looked at the current field, and what they are saying and doing, and they have already shown themselves to be a big disappointment. Where is the vision to put this country back on the mountaintop where we used to be? Where is the vision to really rid this Earth of the terror that grips so many, especially in the Muslim world? Where is the vision to make a goal, a real actionable goal, to become energy independent and stop global warming now? Who will speak up on the true reality of Iraq—that our soldiers must leave, while the diplomacy commences and we make sure Afghanistan gets better? Are we really ever going to have universal health coverage? Who will make sure that past crimes committed by this government will be brought to justice, and that government secrecy ends? I look at the field, and I only see mediocrity.
You are the one meant for this job. I’m not a political operative or expert—I can’t tell you how you’re going to get there. But people are feeling hopeless, fearful, uncertain about the future. And they need a leader who isn’t afraid to say, “let’s do things differently”, and has the experience to back it up.
Regardless of how you choose, I will support your decision. No doubt the Senate is a better place because you’re in it. But if you decide to reach for the stars again, I’ll be there supporting you.
MLK said these words two days before he was assassinated, but they’ve always stuck with me because of their fearlessness and hope for the future. September 11th was a horrible, horrible day, and we’ve had bad days ever since, but his words show that even in the darkest of times, that with a vision of how it will be, we can do anything:
“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
http://www.drmartinlutherkingjr.com/ivebeentothemountaintop.htm
OT-
I was wondering if Senator Kerry intended to co-sponsor this resolution by Senator Sanders and 9 other senators concerning global warming.
I know Senator Kerry is very concerned by this issue, so I was quite surprise not to see his name on any of the bills that have been offered by the 110th Congress.
Does anybody have any explanation?
beachmom: excellent. I agree.