Guest Thinkers — April 3, 2010

MLK’s Vietnam

Bob Herbert of the New York Times writes that Martin Luther King’s reasoning for contesting the War in Vietnam is valid in Afghanistan, but, like before, few are listening.

bigthinkeditor

Bob Herbert of the New York Times writes that Martin Luther King’s reasoning for contesting the War in Vietnam is valid in Afghanistan, but, like before, few are listening. “This was on the evening of April 4, 1967, almost exactly 43 years ago. Dr. King told the more than 3,000 people who had crowded into Riverside Church that silence in the face of the horror that was taking place in Vietnam amounted to a ‘betrayal.’ He spoke of both the carnage in the war zone and the toll the war was taking here in the United States. The speech comes to mind now for two reasons: A Tavis Smiley documentary currently airing on PBS revisits the controversy set off by Dr. King’s indictment of “the madness of Vietnam.” And recent news reports show ever-increasing evidence that we have ensnared ourselves in a mad and tragic venture in Afghanistan.”

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