Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam Summary

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence argues his stance against the government and their decisions on war. King views the Vietnam war as only a symptom of a disease that is affecting America and the American spirit. King holds the U.S. government and the American people responsible for the Vietnam war as well as other wars and revolutions. He holds the government responsible due to the fact that they are the “purveyor[s] of violence” (2). On the other hand, the American people are also responsible for not “opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war” (1). The Vietnam war being a symptom makes money and pride the disease. King suggests that the “cure” for the disease is love, compassion …show more content…
King states, “They [the young black men] asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems” (1). The nation consuming large “doses” of violence suggests that they are a victim of a disease as well. Spreading the idea of violence makes the U.S. government the retailer whose job is nothing more than to hand out “doses” of the drug, in this case, violence. Thinking of violence as a dosage of a drug shows how the U.S. government has not only been infected itself but also has affected others. By providing countries with the tools for violence infers that we, the government and the American people, are the ones pushing them towards violence. The government seems have been instigating by spreading the idea of violence around the world. Even though the government is the provider, they are not the producer of what was retailed. The war in Vietnam is nothing more than a symptom according to King. The doses of violence are what is contributing to that symptom. “If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam” (2). In an array of things, Vietnam is only a speck on a bigger