Martin Luther King Jr. Speech: "Beyond Vietnam"

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In Martun Luther King Jr.'s speech, on April 4, 1977, he has a much different tone than in many of his other famous speeches. It also happened to be exactly one year prior to his death in 1968. His "I have a Dream" speech was much more national oriented rather than directed at a international audience.

In King's "Beyond Vietnam" he spoke outrightly against the United States of America's involvement in the war in Vietnam. His speach showed the great task he was taking on as being more than just a leader in the "Civil rights movement." King speaking out about Vietnam- and against it no less- showed that he accepted his role as someone of great predominance in the United States of America.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. greatly displays his disagreement with the war in Vietnam, he also ties in United States African American civil rights into his arguments against the war. He points out the sheer absurdity of sending sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands of lower class African American families over to risk their lives in a war for freedoms of those in Southeast Asia- freedoms that had not even been granted to them.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech on April 4, 1967 at New York City's riverside Church was a very impactful speech and in hindsight it shows how many of his political views were extending beyond just the United States of America and, had he not been assassinated, he may have gone on to even great predominance than he already was.