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Observing the
Fiftieth Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Our Time
to Break Silence,”
By Lynne Hamer
Special to The Truth
On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his
famous speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” at
the Riverside Church in New York City.
On April 4, 2017, organized by the National Council of
Elders, groups across the nation will come together to read
and to be inspired by “Dr. King’s vision of a radical
revolution of values.”
One such reading will take place at Monroe Street Church on
Tuesday at 7 p.m. Groups and individuals are invited to
participate in the reading, and the public is welcome to
attend the event.
This event will follow the directives of the National
Council of Elders, which is calling on “schools, churches,
civil rights groups, labor organizations, museums, community
organizations, and others to join… in building this movement
to break silence, promote dialogue and engage in nonviolent
direct action.”
In his speech “A Time to Break Silence,” Dr. King noted,
“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.”
With this statement, Dr. King connected racism with
oppression of all types. Almost exactly one year after this
speech, Dr. King was assassinated.
Speaking about his book Death of a King (2014), Tavis
Smiley has noted, “King had a moral compass that allowed him
to speak courageously with candor and clarity. When he came
out so forcefully against the Vietnam War, he was
challenging a myriad of varied political interests—both left
and right, black and white. To say nothing of how the media
labeled him “un-American.” King was essentially abandoned
and was no longer regarded as one of the most admired
Americans. He had become persona non grata.”
This radical side of Dr. King has remained largely
suppressed, unknown and untaught, with Dr. King presented as
a “sanitized” American hero. One increasingly common
criticism of Martin Luther King Day and the lessons
surrounding it is that Dr. King is presented in a sanitized,
over-simplified version, as someone who simply “had a
dream.”
The “Time to Break
Silence” speech was a call to action by all people to end
oppression. King linked the reduction of humanitarian,
social programs for the neediest of Americans at home, to
the increased spending on military intervention, under
increasingly questioned circumstances, in Vietnam. Full
text and audio of Dr. King’s speech is available at
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/
Some educators, both in classrooms and in public arenas,
have developed lessons around “Time to Break Silence” that
teach the call to action that King made. One notable
resource is “Hidden in Plain Sight: Martin Luther King’s
Radical Vision,” a teacher’s guide developed by the Oakland
Unified School District and available at
http://urbandreams.ousd.k12.ca.us .
The author of this guide, high school teacher Craig Gordon,
describes it as attempting “to help students penetrate the
curtain of clichés and lies the corporate media have erected
around Martin Luther King, Jr., in order to make him “safe”
for public consumption” (http://urbandreams.ousd.k12.ca.us).
It is an extensive resource for classroom teachers,
community leaders, and self-educating individuals.
The National Council of Elders is taking the speech outside
the classroom with its challenge for Americans to “break
this deadly silence” that followed King’s call for all
Americans to join together to oppose the violence that comes
from racism, materialism, and militarism. The Council’s call
for readings of the speech to be made across the nation is
with the goal of bringing contemporary activists and
citizens at large together to hear, think deeply on, and be
inspired by Dr. King’s insights.
The Council was founded by Rev. James Lawson, Jr. and Rev.
Phillip Lawson in 2009. Their goal was and is to gather
veterans of 20th century civil rights, justice,
environmental, LGBT, and peace movements together in order
to inspire the next generations of leaders. Their purpose
is to provide support and collective wisdom to current
social rights and justice movements.
As detailed in their biographical profiles on the National
Council of Elders website (www.nationalcouncilofelders.com),
Rev. James Lawson, Jr. served as a missionary in India where
“he was profoundly influenced by Gandhi’s principles and
practice of nonviolence. Lawson taught nonviolence to many
future leaders of the Civil Rights Movement including Martin
Luther King, Jr. and was a primary organizer of the
nonviolent Sit-in movement and the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC).”
Rev. Phillip Lawson was “trained in nonviolence by Bayard
Rustin, … [and] marched with Dr. King from Selma to
Montgomery. He was subpoenaed by Congress for his ties with
Black Panther Party and his controversial visits to North
Vietnam…. [With] the Black Alliance for Just Immigration,
Rev. Larson helped organize the transition of 300,000
refugees from Central America.”
The Council’s call for nationwide readings of the speech
provides an opportunity for individuals and groups that
focus on separate areas of concern to see the relationship
between them, and to come together to meet the needs of
today.
A group reading of the speech will take place at Monroe
Street Church on Tuesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. The speech is
powerful: no commentary about the speech nor about the
organizations represented will be necessary. After the
reading, all are invited to stay for refreshments and
socializing. During this time, individuals might choose to
discuss the reading and its implications with each other, or
not.
Those who would like to participate in presenting the
reading are invited to come to a rehearsal at the church on
Sunday, April 2, at 7 p.m. Parts will be distributed at
that time.
The church is located at 3613 Monroe Street, Toledo. More
information is available on the church website at
http://www.monroestumc.com/ or by calling
the church office at 419-473-1167.
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