Martin Luther King Jr.: Argument Against The Vietnam War

Decolonization is a key influential argument against the United Sates during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War occurred from the mid-1950s to 1970s and during this time period, race relations in America were weak. While efforts for equality were in progress, there was still great discrimination against minority races such as African Americans. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “Beyond Vietnam,” he comments on “a real promise of hope for the poor, both black and white, through the poverty program.” This program was from the early 1960s to help Americans regardless of skin color attempt to rise above the poverty line. While this program was meant to provide hope for less fortunate Americans, it did not succeed as these specific individuals were forced into participating in the Vietnam War. The individuals placed in the war were mainly African Americans and poor white men. While it was not stated that black men were to be the first to be pushed into the Vietnam War, it still seemed as though African Americans were being targeted to leave and fight for a country they may have never even felt freedom in.
As King says in his speech, “the black young men who had been crippled by our society …show more content…
does not only elude to the decolonization of African Americans in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech, but he makes clear the fact that he is in opposition to participation in the Vietnam War. For example, King brings up when Vietnam proclaimed independence in 1945, and even though parts of the American Declaration of Independence were woven into Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence, the United States would not view them as an independent nation. Furthermore, America took France’s side in their attempt to regain control of Vietnam. Instead of supporting a group attempting to become an independent, self-sufficient nation after taking inspiration from America’s own document of independence, America fought against this nation in an attempt to decolonize