Martin Luther King Jr Last Speech Analysis

On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the speech “Beyond -- A time To Break SIlence” at Riverside Church in New York City. This speech spoke out against the American involvement in the Vietnam War. On this day, Dr. King was able to create a stir within America that would soon cause a ripple effect in our community about the unfairness of this participation when compared to our own needs. Dr. King was able to effectively use strategies such as diction, irony, and ethos to strengthen his argument that the American involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust. In his speech, Dr. King’s use of diction emphasizes the immensity of the situation at hand. He is able to take a simple statement and draw in the audience with his compelling words that create a sense of realization for almost anyone listening. Take his words “demonic destructive suction tube” for example. He uses these words to compare the businessmen that stray their attention from America into unnecessary “adventures”, such as the Vietnam War, and instead of
putting the time and money into American citizens who need more help than ever, they are drawn to a system that offers no real justice for Americans. In many of his paragraphs, Dr. King also uses diction in a negative connotation against the Vietnam War. He uses words such as “tragic”, “devastating”, “crippled”, and “poisoned”, to persuade others that involvement in the Vietnam War is not required nor does it positively impact our nation in any way. Even his use of the words “eight thousand miles away” are able to emphasize the long distance in which we go for such a “small” matter that could be put to use in many other ways. Dr. King also uses the strategy of irony to build his argument. He is able to take the situation and express the irony that is occurring. In his second paragraph, Dr. King points out that they have been “repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools.” America as a whole was broken and, basically, racist. People were segregated based upon class and race. Dr. King effectively shows the irony of the situation by connecting the fact that poor Americans are being sent onto a battlefield fighting for the rights and freedoms of others while they do not have the same privilege to do so for their own country. Another example of the irony used is when King speaks of being questioned about potential ways to make social changes in America. King repeatedly goes against violence, but it would be hypocritical in a way for him to protest the usage of violence as a method to get what we want when our own government uses that very tactic. The irony clearly presents itself in this situation, and he is able to use this when building up his argument. Another strategy King implements is ethos. King is able to appeal to the emotions of the audience to provoke a reaction and create a connection with Americans. In his second paragraph, King’s use of the words “sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die,” is able to explain the families ripped apart because of this war. This appeal to emotion brings out the frustrations of families waiting at home for their loved ones that may never return because of our government’s poor decision to send them away in a war that should not affect us. Another way in which King appeals to emotion is in his last paragraph, where he says, “We were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that America would never be free or saved from itself until the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear...Now it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today cannot ignore the present war.” Within this statement, Dr. King was capable of persuading his audience fully that our involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust. In relevance to today, Dr.
King’s speech still impacts those who read it. Not only did King fight for the injustice done to black Americans, but also to Americans in general. Unfortunately, no person can proudly state that racism and discrimination are long gone today, because it simply is not true. And no person can proudly state that we still aren’t put into groups that depend upon our financial and social status, because it is, yet again, simply not true. Dr. King’s speech went beyond the talk of the Vietnam War, but it also spoke out against America’s corrupt government that couldn’t and wouldn’t unite all of its people together. Although decades have passed and we’ve finally gone through many injustices, a wake up call is long overdue for the people who still view others as anything less than human. King’s words are still alive today in many aspects, and they still speak volumes to people around the world experiencing similar
realities.