Photo: Oakland, CA Beyond Vietnam readers; photo credit: Sandy Thacker
In his prophetic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” delivered on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his tragic and untimely assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values…. we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has picked up Dr. King’s unfinished work weaving the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, environmental devastation, militarism and the war economy and a distorted moral narrative of Christian nationalism that blames poor people for their own poverty, into one “moral fusion” campaign.
Groups in Oakland, CA have been doing public participatory readings annually, since 2003. This year, standing in the bright sun at the amphitheater in front of Oakland City Hall, a group of activists, including members of the Bay Area Poor Peoples Campaign, gathered once again to read “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” As one of the organizers said: “We have now been doing these annual readings in Oakland under five U.S. administrations! And each year something new stands out that is directly relevant to the moment we’re in. This year was no different. Dr. King truly was a prophet who continues to teach and inspire us 57 years later.”
In Los Angeles, CA, twenty people gathered at Alexandria House to read Dr. King’s speech. Although most in attendance were not familiar with the history of the Vietnam war, the present-day resonance was clear to all. Several people were so moved by his words that they broke down and cried. One of the readers put it this way: “The beauty and power of the words of Dr. King, along with the harmony of the voices reading, was a gift to my spirit. So grateful to have been present.”
A statewide online reading, organized by the California Poor People’s Campaign took place on April 9.
This was the fourth year that North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign folks did online readings of the speech. Nearly 50 people volunteered to participate in the readings. There were readers from the mountains to the coast and every area in the state was represented. Over 100 people joined Zoom to hear the reading of the speech. Watch the recording here.
United for Peace & Justice is proud to be a mobilizing partner with the Poor People’s Campaign. We have prepared a tool kit, updated annually, with everything you need to organize a reading in your community. Consider organizing a reading for next April 4 (or sooner; you don’t have to wait!)
