“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. … I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted.”
These passionate words ably address the situation in Gaza, now six months into the Israeli-Hamas conflict. The words, however, were spoken over 57 years ago. They were part of the speech titled, “ Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence ,” delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York City.
“Beyond Vietnam” was a turning point for Dr. King’s social justice and nonviolent activism . While he had been criticizing the Vietnam War for two years, at Riverside Church he unequivocally condemned the conflict, citing numerous calamities brought upon the Vietnamese people by the U.S. military, and called for an immediate ceasefire.