[Peace-discuss] Fwd: web page in honor of King holiday

[Jim Buell]

At 06:14 PM 1/17/2003 -0600, Al Kagan wrote:
>FYI.  Can we suggest some websites to add on MLK's anti-war activities?
>
>>
>>Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. resource page,
>>
>>see http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/newpages/mlk.htm

You mean you're not content to see the Defense Department and Navy define 
King's legacy, Al? Here are a couple alternatives gleaned from a Google search.

1. King's "Casualties of the war in Vietnam" speech, February 1967 - 
http://www.yonip.com/peace/casualties.htm

2. a brief page excerpting from several of King's anti-war speeches - 
http://www.tacoma.ctc.edu/home/sdonalds/mlkwarpeace.html . I'm recopying 
that page in its entirety here. Words to ponder.

peace,
jb

>Martin Luther King, Jr. on Peace and War
>
>The observation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday 
>has not been accompanied by a broad understanding of King's thought. Each 
>year, we are reminded that Dr. King "had a dream" for racial equality, but 
>rarely do we hear his opinions about the Vietnam War or economic 
>disparities in the wealthiest nation in human history.
>
>On April 4, 1967, exactly a year before his assassination, King gave a 
>speech "A Time to Break Silence: Declaration of Independence from the War 
>in Vietnam" at Riverside Church in New York City. This speech was attacked 
>by media institutions such as Time and the Washington Post for his 
>critique of the war, including the observation that "the greatest purveyor 
>of violence in the world today [is] my own government."
>
>"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
. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on 
>military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching 
>spiritual death. .... We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence 
>or violent co-annihilation." For the full text, see: 
>www.mlkonline.com/vietnam Here are selections from several other relevant 
>speeches by Dr. King
>
>"The Drum Major Instinct" February 4, 1968, Ebenezer Baptist Church: "I 
>love this country too much to see the drift that it has taken. ... God 
>didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war, [such] as the 
>war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in that war. We have committed more 
>war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue 
>to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride, and our arrogance as 
>a nation."
>
>"Where do we go from here?" King's last, and most radical Southern 
>Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) presidential address: "And one day 
>we must ask the question, 'Why are there forty million poor people in 
>America?' And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising 
>questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of 
>wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic 
>economy. And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to 
>ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the 
>discouraged beggars in life's marketplace. But one day we must come to see 
>that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. ... You see, 
>my friends, when you deal with this, you begin to ask the question, 'Who 
>owns the iron ore?' You begin to ask the question, 'Why is it that people 
>have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water?' ... Now, 
>when I say question the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see 
>that the problems of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the 
>problem of war are all tied together."
>
>The Casualties of the War in Vietnam, 25 February 1967: "An ugly 
>repressive sentiment to silence peace-seekers depicts ... persons who call 
>for a cessation of bombings in the north as quasi-traitors, fools or venal 
>enemies of our soldiers and institutions. Free speech and the privilege of 
>dissent and discussion are rights being shot down by bombers in Viet Nam. 
>When those who stand for peace are so vilified it is time to consider 
>where we are going and whether free speech has not become one of the major 
>casualties of the war."
>Common Dreams news service recently stated that "If Dr. Martin Luther 
>King, Jr., were alive today, he might well be leading acts of civil 
>disobedience against the war in Afghanistan. And he would probably be 
>charged with domestic terrorism, under the new anti-terrorism act. Anyone 
>who has any links to his organization, or contributed money to it, could 
>be charged too." -- "Martin Luther King: A Domestic Terrorist?" by Ira 
>Chernus www.commondreams.org/views01/103008.htm
>
>Many of King's speeches can be found in the collection A Testament of 
>Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., 
>James. M. Washington, ed., Harper Collins, 1986, and at the Martin Luther 
>King, Jr. Papers Project, www.stanford.edu/group/King/home.htm They are 
>indispensible guides for understanding the evolution of Dr. King's ideas. 
>King's murder destroyed many hopes for positive transformation of our society.
>
>Reprinted by Lutheran Peace Fellowship, 1710 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122, 
>206-720-0313, lpf at ecunet.org