Sometime when you have time, check out this speech by Martin Luther King. You can play it in the background while you're surfing (just minimize it after you click on it). Or you can read along with the text and study the words as you are listening to the speech.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/spee...eaksilence.htm

Martin made this speech on April 4th,1967...exactly one year to the day before he was assassinated. Most people over the years assume that Martin Luther King was assassinated by a white racist who was against his crusade for justice for black Americans. He was tolerated for the most part for his views on Civil Rights but it was his outspoken criticism of the Viet Nam war that earned him the most wrath and may be the true reason that he was assassinated.

The speech is very profound, I really highly and strongly recommend listening to it. He presents many fascinating facts about what was going on in Viet Nam and the domestic front and logical, and political arguments for ending the war. His most effective arguments though were those made on Spiritual grounds. He uses strong moral persuasion and it is a powerful speech.

Martin Luther King is a person I have looked up to all of my life. This is basically the world I was born into. I was exactly one year old and 5 months on the day this speech was made. All through my young formative years from the time I was born in 1965 (the year the beginning of major combat operations in Viet Nam) until the end of the Viet Nam War in April of 1973, there was so much turmoil and unrest going on.

I was just a very small child but I was sensitive and aware of what was going on because my family and surroundings could basically be seen as a microcosm of all that was going on in that period. My uncle, step dad, his brother and many others were going to and coming home from Viet Nam. I could feel all of this. There were Civil Rights struggles, protests, assassinations, radical groups, it was definitely a fascinating time. My generation was definitely shaped by this whole time period. I was one of those kids back then who used to give the peace sign out the window of the car as we cruised along and I remember everyone returning that peace sign and radiantly smiling.

The things Martin Luther King is saying in this speech are important and profound. They are specifically about the situation of Viet Nam but the insights are timeless and relevant to today's situation in the world. I strongly recommend you give this a listen.

Hempstone
Hempstone Reviewed by Hempstone on . Martin Luther King Speech Against War Sometime when you have time, check out this speech by Martin Luther King. You can play it in the background while you're surfing (just minimize it after you click on it). Or you can read along with the text and study the words as you are listening to the speech. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm Martin made this speech on April 4th,1967...exactly one year to the day before he was assassinated. Most people over the years assume that Martin Luther King was Rating: 5