February 4-8
Come to the Alamogordo Public Library and celebrate Black History Month. The Otero County NAACP and the Democratic Party of Otero County present “Eyes on the Prize” the award winning PBS documentary of the civil rights struggles of the 20th Century. Monday through Thursday from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. and Friday from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M. at the Alamogordo Public Library Multi-Purpose room. Learn about Black History. The public is welcome and entrance is free.
“I Have a Dream” is Dr. King’s best known and most often recited speech. “Beyond Vietnam” is generally ignored by speakers and the corporate media. We could replace the word “Vietnam” with “Iraq” and his speech would today be as pertinent as it was in 1967.
Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
By Rev. Martin Luther King
4 April 1967
Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City
I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.
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 government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on. (more…)
