Preview

Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
511 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam Essay
“Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence”

Racial discrimination, violence, and poverty have all remained plight in today’s society. Racial discrimination is one of the most controversial problems in our society. People should be constantly aware of the impact that racial discrimination, violence, and poverty have on the public. Many steps have been taken to resolve these issues, but it will take more than one voice to make the change. Numerous people have helped society take that big step in the past, but in order to continue to see change we must continue to make the change. In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence,” he asserts that the Vietnam War is immoral and has negative implications not only for the United States and Vietnam, but also the rest of the world. Dr. Martin Luther King brought the Vietnam War in relation to the Poverty Program of the government. The program gave the black population hope to improve their situation; however, exorbitant sums went to fight in the war rather than join the Poverty Program. “The war was an enemy of the poor people.” Dr. King stated. It stripped black males from their homes making it harder for their families to survive. King
…show more content…
Having a black president undoubtedly shows how America has progressed since the Civil Rights Movement. But, even as Barack Obama sits in the Oval Office, we have not yet achieved King’s dream of a post- racial America. In Dr. King’s speech he states, “Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” Being able to speak up for one’s self is vital. President Obama would not be as successful as he is today without standing up and speaking for what he believes

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Hypertension Case Summary

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Pat Donelson is a 67-year-old female who presented today with complaints of pain in her left lower calf. The pain started about 3-4 months ago as an “aching/cramping” pain that she described as mild in nature. She noticed the pain while walking and with adequate rest the pain subsides. Mrs. Donelson discontinued use of Lipitor because she thought it might be causing her leg pain. She also presented with complaints of recurrent headaches, a morning cough, and loss of hair on her effected leg. Mrs. Donelson has a history of periodic angina and heart palpitations; however, at the present time she is asymptomatic.…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “We have waited for more than 340 years for our Constitutional and God given rights” (King, Letter from Birmingham Jail, 3). Racial equality; something that black Americans along with white Americans have been fighting to get for far too long. Both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Barack Obama want to see the black community get out from under the many years of discrimination and blatant racism that they have been subject to. In many ways we can see President Obama following in the footsteps of Dr. King’s teachings in the…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The American involement in the Vietnam war is a conversial topic because many thing occured during that time that didn't set well in many Americans souls. This war reveal many tragic losses to people livelihood. These losses made certain americans wonder how American involement participation was unjust. The solution to this gruesome war was not agreed on by many americans . Martin Luther King Jr builds his argument on the affect of the felllow americans and the ways american solves the problems in vietnam.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have you ever considered that war not only takes lives away from home, but also malnourishes those who stay? A famous black preacher, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote a well-developed article concerning the connection between war and the loss of the poor. However, the purpose of this article is not merely to argue for the author, nor against him. Rather, its rationale is to explain how his article develops. The article first takes readers through an exordium, where it addresses the problem with an emotional aspect. Then, it reveals the irony of the situation while attacking its opponents’ vile doings with vigorous, concrete evidence and logical explications. Finally, it eventually brings them to a halt while clearly stating what should be done…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dr. King uses facts to show that America’s involvement in this war was unjust. He say’s that the poor people were most affected in this war and that was proven true. They were the ones who lost everything and could not get out of fighting. They did not have money until they made the Poverty programs and the wars took that away from them. He see’s that the war is breaking the poor so he goes on about what the war is doing that effects them. He shows what the poverty program did for the poor…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    King was trying to explain non violence to the angry, oppressed black men and women who wanted to do nothing more than to take their rifles and dispose of their problems. However, how could he get people to follow the nonviolent movement when the Vietnam war was anything but. Martin Luther King asserts in the passage, “Their questions hit me, and I knew that i could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - - my own…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther king in his 1967 speech to the American people spoke of poor black men being drafted to fight for the ideal of freedom in Vietnam(Doc3). Yet freedom didn’t exist for blacks in America similar to document 4 escalation of the Vietnam war spurred aggressive civil rights protest and parties like the black panthers rose they petitions for equal voting rights. War devastated the poor and undermined the great society programs put in place by jfk and altered by…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King opposed the Vietnam War and stood strongly against its continuation because it not only hurt the Vietnamese people but it took its toll on the American people also. Before the beginning of the war, the government was funding an experimental “Poverty Program” to help those individuals in need. Instead, the money was used to support the Vietnam war. Dr. King was outraged at this decision because he felt that the war was pointless. He believed that the money could be used in a much better way.…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    People argued that King ignoring his duties to the Civil Rights Movement, but I would argue that if he had ignored the war, then everything he had preached about nonviolence would have been hypocritical. The Vietnam war was another manifestation of the violence Dr. King had spoken out against his entire career, and to ignore it would be to discredit the violence happening at home. King implies this idea in his speech when he proposes that he “could never again raise his voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today—[the American] government.” This is not to say that King’s involvement in the Vietnam War did not in retrospect dampen motivation in the Civil Rights Movement in the south, but that his involvement was something that was a natural progression from his speeches back in…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Vietnam War Equality

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages

    During the Vietnam War, the OEO didn’t get the stamp of approval needed from Johnson, ceasing any further funding towards the program. This decision was due to the fact that Johnson was trying to save money in hopes of appealing to the Congress, hopefully leading to increased support and funding for the war. Therefore, the "War on Poverty" was never able to fully impact the lives of those in need, due to insufficient funds. This realization caused an uproar throughout the African-American community, causing Martin Luther King Jr. To make the statement, "The war on poverty was shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam". Mr. King's statement was a message of disappointment that was felt by Americans across the nation. To further demolish any trace of the OEO, President Richard Nixon and Vice President, Gerald Ford, emasculated the program. Nixon and Ford then proceeded to take the little money or programs the OEO had and transferred it to other federal agencies, or just got rid of it all…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King serves as an inspiration to countless citizens, including me as he seized on a ginormous problem in his life and tackles this dilemma. Today, racial discrimination is it’s known name; Dr. King didn’t admire the unfair inequality some people received even after the Civil War that was fought for no slaves and equality to everyone. “To that end, he traveled the world proclaiming his vision of the "beloved community," and defining racism as a worldwide evil.” (Martin Luther King’s Dream of Racial Equality) Dr. King knew the importance of the matter at hand and with his infinitely powerful speeches, he motivates the entire world to undertake some change about the inequality. Wars today in other countries are often fought for religious freedom or other troubles that are about church. Racism, a worldwide problem, is a matter we can start solving little by little if we just choose to glance beyond skin color, religious beliefs, and other attributes that some people judge separate us to choose how we treat them based on their personality and overall how they are as a person. Dr. King’s inspirations also changed what others thought concerning equality, which shows he’s just as easily going to be an inspirational man to several people now and in the future of the…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Harris delivers a compelling critique of Barack Obama’s presidency and the effects it has had on black politics in his book, The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics. Harris a professor of Political Science at Columbia University and currently heads the Institute of Research in African-American Studies at the university as well. His unique perspective and powerful claim that Obama’s presidency has essentially hurt black Americans in politics, introduces a fresh narrative that proposes the question of whether or not African-Americans have indeed come as far in the political sphere as the public perceives.…

    • 1980 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a big difference of the definition between the civilian and military meaning of accountability. The definition of accountability in the military is the obligation imposed by law or lawful order or regulation of an officer or other person for keeping accurate record of property, documents, or funds. The person having this obligation may or may not have actual possession of the property, documents, or funds. Accountability is concerned primarily with records, while responsibility is concerned primarily with custody, care, and safekeeping. Making sure that everyone has what they need and what they are supposed to have is accountability.…

    • 508 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The public figure that most exemplifies leadership is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King is the most exemplary leader because he was able to persuade millions of Americans, persevered over obstacles and enacted social change, and selflessly fought for the rights of others at the risk of his own life.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once the election started for Barrack Obama the people of the United States were dying for a black president. Obama is a very strong orator and can get minorities on his side using limited words. He ran for president even though he was black. Lots of people discriminated him and gave him put downs. But he didn 't care. He told, and convinced people should be treated the same as other people. He was persistent, and kept trying. And eventually, he became the first black man to be president of the United States. It wasn’t because he was black that he became the president, it was the persuasive techniques that he used. Many of which is word choice and rhetorical questions. “Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have courage to remake the world as it should be” (Thum). Hope is what Barrack Obama and United States went by and that’s what got him to where he is now, manipulated people are what happen and many people believe a strong speaker is a strong…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays