What did MLK say about the Vietnam War?

What did MLK say about the Vietnam War?

Later that year King framed the issue of war in Vietnam as a moral issue: “As a minister of the gospel,” he said, “I consider war an evil. I must cry out when I see war escalated at any point” (“Opposes Vietnam War”).

Was Martin Luther King in favor of the Vietnam War?

King maintained his antiwar stance and supported peace movements until he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, one year to the day after delivering his “Beyond Vietnam” speech.

Why did Martin Luther King opposed the Vietnam War?

King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. The United States Congress was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time.

What was the purpose of A Time to Break Silence?

Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the historic speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” at New York City’s Riverside Church. It was his first major public antiwar speech and a powerful warning that a rise in racial hatred, militarism and violence could destroy America.

What two things did Dr King dislike about the Vietnam War?

King became active in taking a stand against the war in Vietnam. He complained that all the money spent on weapons could have been used to make the lives of the poor better. He also hated the violence of it. Many people thought his comments took attention away from civil rights.

What are King’s concrete objections to the Vietnam War?

In a version of the “Transformed Nonconformist” sermon given in January 1966 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, King voiced his own opposition to the Vietnam War, describing American aggression as a violation of the 1954 Geneva Accord that promised self-determination.

Which civil rights leader opposed the Vietnam War?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This was the first anti-war statement by a civil rights organization. But, a month later, on August 12, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his first speech opposing the war in Vietnam at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama.

What was MLK’s Beyond Vietnam speech about?

On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. King’s address emphasized his responsibility to the American people and explained that conversations with young black men in the ghettos reinforced his own commitment to nonviolence. …

Why does King call the war an enemy of the poor?

King saw “the war as an enemy of the poor,” as young black men were sent to “guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem.” What King understood was that the war was destroying not only the character of the U.S. but also the character of its soldiers.

What is the overriding irony is that Dr King speaks to?

Explanation: King saw it as ironic that a significantly high disproportion of American soldiers in Vietnam were fighting for “democracy” on behalf of a country where racial discrimination and segregation was both endemic and institutionalised.