Summary and Analysis of
Summary
Martin Luther King, Jr., an eminent symbol of the civil rights movement in the United States (US), has delivered Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence in light of the then-ongoing war initiated by the nation against the Communist forces in Vietnam. As the title of the speech states, King noted that “silence is betrayal”, in which he made mention of the necessity to speak up against the atrocities the US has committed in the name of their anti-Communist agendas. He noted that civil rights and peace, in the aspect of the Vietnam War, do not mix very well, given that the attainment of peace in Vietnam has necessitated the use of violent means, on the part of the US (King).
In encapsulating the things needed for accomplishment to resolve the problem of peace in Vietnam, King has noted five possible suggestions. Firstly, King called for the bombings in both North and South Vietnam to stop. Secondly, King recommended for a unilateral ceasefire to take place in order to provide for a proper venue for peaceful negotiations. Thirdly, King noted that the US should prevent other wars to break out in other parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand and Laos. Fourthly, King urged for the recognition of the National Liberation Front as the dominant political body in South Vietnam that should figure in negotiation efforts. Lastly, King pressed for the complete withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam based on the 1954 Geneva Agreement. Through the aforementioned recommendations, King advocated for the war in Vietnam to stop indefinitely. King sees the deployment of US troops as detrimental to the overall movement to promote true peace and the advancement of civil rights, seeing that the problem between blacks and whites has not yet found adequate resolutions at home (King).
Analysis
In calling for peace, King has emphasized that any form of warfare is costly and debilitating to the overall process of achieving lasting peace. Citing the aggression that has displaced and destroyed the lives of many families and communities in Vietnam, King has called for the US to stop engaging in warfare and instead help in organizing peaceful negotiations. In light of calls to stop the war in Vietnam, King noted that the civil rights problem the US is experiencing at home is one that has to gain better attention at the time. While King did not specifically state that the civil rights movement is more important than the problems in Vietnam, he views the war as an unnecessary one, in that there are other means of negotiating peace in the area without having to resort to destructive warfare (King).
The five recommendations King has stated in his speech call for the promotion of peaceful means to end the problem in Vietnam. Overall, the recommendations require both the US and other parties to engage in open negotiations that would enable all of them to lay out all their interests on the matter to arrive at an eventual resolution. King stated that warfare would not enable all parties involved to hold such negotiations, as there would be more destruction and coercion involved than constructive developments leading to peace. In other words, King holds that war would not lead to peace, since violence would instill fear and loss of lives rather than the development of mechanisms leading to full amity and reconciliation between all parties concerned (King).
Works Cited
King Jr., Martin Luther. "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence." American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank, 2001. Web. 5 May 2013.
