MLK: "Silence is Betrayal"

when he spoke out about the Vietnam War. Many miraculous things inspired by Dr. King will be remembered today but few are as continuingly relevant - and as well hidden by the corporate media - as these words.

The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war. I have chosen to preach about the Vietnam War today because I agree with Dante that the hottest places in Hell are reserved for people who in a moment of moral crisis maintained their neutrality.

There comes a time when Silence is Betrayal.

The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their governments policy, especially in a time of war.

Dr.King being arrested for "Loitering" in Montgomery. 1958

Dr. King inspired much that we should be thankful for and remember today. But he was not alone. He stood up, he spoke out by simply having the courage to the truth when it was the last thing that many in this nation wanted to hear.

But how much of his message have we truly heard?

As I type this the Kingdom Day Parade in L.A. is playing on fTV behind me - a parade that began with synchronized police motorcycle ballet.

Somehow the irony of this display of police precision during a celebration of the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (who was arrested numerous times for act of non-violent protest) was completely missed by the perky on-air hosts.

Imagine that?

Another fact that went completely missed - this route began at Western and MLK Jr. Blvd and led to Leimert Park in the Crenshaw District. Just a couple blocks from Western and MLK are the current L.A. offices of the organization that Dr. King led, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Talk about having a Parade and forgetting to invite the guest of honor. They were practically marching past Dr. King's front door and ignoring them. That's just plain rude!

Later in the Parade a phalanx of ROTC students from Garfield High marched by. The hosts comment?

Some of these young men and women will soon join our armed forces

Yes, they will - yes, they will. Some of them might even join the national guard. And I wonder, I just wonder where they might be going after that, hm?

I did notice that they were playing "I'm Black and I'm Proud" by the late James Brown during part of the parade, but no one bothered to mention James recent passing - or the fact that James had single-handedly ended the riots in Boston the night after Dr. King's vicious assasination.

More Silence. More Betrayal.

Many of those who directly fought against Dr. King's goals while he lived would like to co-opt those goals today. But when you bring up the fact that the U.S. Government illegally spied on Dr. King (and used their warrantless wiretaps in an attempt to blackmail him into suicide) as President Jimmy Carter did during the funeral of his wife, Coretta Scott King less than a year ago - those same people go postal. They would claim that honest dissent is traitorous, that to preach peace is tantamount to appeasment.

Polls reveal that almost 15 Million Americans explicit oppose the war in Vietnam. Additional millions can not bring themselves around to support it. This reveals that millions have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history.

Now of course one of the difficulties in speaking out today grows out of the fact that there are those who are seeking to equate dissent with disloyalty.

It's a dark day in our nation, when high level authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent. Something is happening, and people are not going to be silenced.

The truth must be told.

And I say that those who are seeking to make it appear that anyone who opposes the war in Vietnam is a fool or a traitor or an enemy of our soldiers is a person who has taken a stand against the best in our tradition..

And so it has ever been that those who wish to snatch the reins of power from the people will use violence and readily hurl invective at those who dare to speak truth, while many others continue stand idly by in silent betrayal.

Men do not easily assume the task of opposing their governments policy, especially in a time of war.

It's not easy to speak up. It's not easy to stand and be counted. That is what Dr. King preached. That is what he did - and that is how his legacy will be carried forward by those with the courage and conviction to use peace and persuasion to improve this world.

And why exactly did King begin to speak of Vietnam? Why did he enter this issue?

Many persons have questioned me on the wisdom of my path. "Why are you speaking about the War Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent. Peace and Civil Rights don't mix" they say.

And so this morning I speak to you on this issue because I am determined to take the Gospel seriously. There is the outset a very obviuos and almost facile connection between the War in Vietnam and the struggle that I and others have waging in America.

A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle that seemed, which seems as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor, both black and white, through the poverty program. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I saw the program broken as if it was some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war. And I knew that America would never invest the neccesary funds or energies in rehabilitation of it's poor unless so long as advertures like Vietnam continue to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube.

You may not know it my friends, but it is estimated that we spend $500,000 to kill each enemy soldier, while we spend just $53 for each person who is classified as poor, and much that $53 goes to salaries of that is spent on people who are not poor.

So I was increasingly compelled to see the War as an enemy of the poor, and an attack - it is such.

The haze of time has dulled the sting of violence hurled against King and his supporters, the inner turmoil as many then argued for returning that violence in kind, and the true enormity of his eventual acomplishments.

More than inspiring the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the Public Accomodations Act, Dr. King showed us that an "Eye For An Eye" will eventually only make all men blind. True courage does not come from being willing to strike back, but instead with being willing and able to be struck repeatedly and continue to stand in righteous defiance. Dr. King inspired millions of us to be better people, better Americans than we had previously believed we could be.

But again, this was not an easy path. He was supported by the press when he stood non-violent against Bull Connor - but when he stood against the violence of War? Not so much.

America and most of it's newspapers applauded me in Montgomery, when I stood before thousands of negroes getting ready to Riot when my home was bombed. And said "We can't do it this way". They applauded me in the sit-in movement when we decided to non-violently sit in at lunch counters. They applauded us on the freedom rides when we accepted blows without retaliation. Oh, the press was so nobel it's applause and so nobel in it's praise when I was saying "Be non-violent toward Bull Connor."

There's something strangely inconsistent in a Press that will praise you when you say be non-violent toward John Clarke, but will curse and damn you when you say be non-violent toward little brown Vietnamese children. There's something wrong with that press.

We owe an obligation to Dr. King for his sacrifice, to ourselves and to each other to strive to live up to that vision of being better than we often think we are.

Jesus Christ stated when asked what he would do when struck. "I would turn the other cheek." Many have interpreted this to mean that he would simply pretend it had not occured, but I think Dr. King interpreted it correctly. Jesus meant - I would offer to be struck again because the wounds my physical body endures will not harm my immortal soul.

Happy 78th Birthday Dr. King - the truth of your deeds will not soon be forgotten, despite those who wish to attack the truth, or to white-wash it into shiny-happy irrelevance - we will honor you, we will remember you. We will not be harmed. We will not be deterred. You have marked our immortal souls with your moral conviction and your courage. You've made us better people.

Peace be with you all.

Vyan