Love is Always Available

Martin Luther King’s Demand for Justice in the World and King’s Anti-Vietnam War Speech

By Heather Gray

Preface

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in jail in Birmingham because of his participation in protests against segregation. From his jail cell he wrote the lengthy and significant April 16, 1963 ‘Letter from the Birmingham Jail’. King included the following statement regarding injustice. He infers that ‘injustice’ requires taking action against it: I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. (King-1963) In this assertion, King wisely notes that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” which is a philosophy he adhered to throughout his civil rights career. King wrote the Birmingham letter while John F. Kennedy was the US President. Then Kennedy was assassinated eight months later on November 22, 1963 resulting in Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becoming the US President.

King was, on the whole, appreciative of Johnson’s civil rights advocacy, which included three major civil rights acts from 1964 to 1968: (1) the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin; (2) the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and (3) the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which covers fair housing for minorities. The 1968 act, however, was passed after King’s assassination in 1968.

King’s Stance on Injustice

A few years after his 1963 Birmingham Jail Letter, King’s reference to ‘injustice’ expanded considerably in his actions and speech to include ‘international’ injustice. Regarding this, in 2017 scholar David Garrow noted:

Finally, in early 1967, he (King) had had enough. One day Dr. King pushed aside a plate of food while paging through a magazine whose photographs depicted the burn wounds suffered by Vietnamese children who had been struck by napalm. The images were unforgettable, he said. “I came to the conclusion that I could no longer remain silent about an issue that was destroying the soul of our nation.” (Garrow: New York Times - 2017)

King’s Anti-Vietnam Speech and his Assassination

It was on April 4, 1967 that Dr. King gave his renowned ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech at Riverside Church in New York City:

King described the war’s deleterious eff ects on both America’s poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war through nonviolent means. (King Institute-Stanford) King knew that Johnson would not appreciate his opposition to the Vietnam War and he was right. As expected, Johnson was off ended by King’s anti-Vietnam War posture and Johnson’s FBI director, Herbert Hoover, took note of this and began monitoring Dr. King more intensely.

Regarding King’s ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech, the King Institute at Stanford University summarizes as follows:

King referred to Vietnam’s devastation because of “deadly Western arrogance - we are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor”. He called for a ‘unilateral ceasefi re’. To King, however, the Vietnam War was only the most pressing symptom of American colonialism worldwide. King claimed that America made “peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profi ts of overseas investments”. King urged instead “a radical revolution of values” emphasizing love and justice rather than economic nationalism. (King InstituteStanford) On April 4, 1967, exactly one year after King’s Anti-Vietnam War speech, King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

In a recent interview I conducted with Mukasa Dada (AKA Willie Ricks), who worked closely with Dr. King, he referred to the King assassination, and the impact of it being exactly one year after Dr. King’s anti-Vietnam speech. He said: “On the anniversary of Dr. King speaking out against the Vietnam War, he was shot to death. This is what the United States does with certain things or certain victories… then you are attacked to discredited you. So, when Dr. King spoke out against the war in Vietnam on April 4, 1967, on April 4, 1968 they killed him.” (Dada 2021)

I would venture to say, however, that while there were certainly eff orts to discredit King because of his anti-Vietnam War speech, it was not successful. He was tragically assassinated but even up to the present day, King along with his anti-Vietnam War speech are honored and treasured by millions throughout the United States and the world.

Heather Gray is an activist, journalist and media specialist. She is the founder and editor of the “Justice Initiative” and I am the radio producer, along with co-producer Ernest Dunkley, of the “Just Peace” program on the WRFG-FM (89.3FM) community radio station in Atlanta, Georgia.