Jan 25, 2017
In this podcast episode, we feature Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King’s A Time to Break Silence speech on April 4, 1967 in New York City. While many have listened to Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech, fewer have considered his words in A Time to Break Silence. He embraced his concern for both the welfare of the African-American soldiers who most often were on the front lines of battle, but also for the poor in Vietnam. Dr. King was one of the few national leaders who correctly understood the struggle in Vietnam was not between Communism and democracy, rather a long battle against French imperialism that had dominated the region for hundreds of years. The fear of the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia had spilled into Southeast Asia where it did not belong. Dr. King saw how the Vietnam conflict was both destroying our own country as well as that of the poor in Vietnam. This was not a universally popular speech among the American people. Time has revealed the wisdom of Dr. King who not only spoke of advancing civil rights in America, but also serving as peacemakers here on earth with all people.