Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the greatest people the world has ever produced. He is and remains to be remembered for his great contribution in initiating the foundation of civil rights. In fact, Dr. King delivered the most powerful speech “Beyond Vietnam-A Time to Break Silence” (King, 1967). This and many other speeches he has ever made, delivered powerful positive emotions to his audience. In this particular speech, the doctor uses the opportunity to address the church leaders and the United States at large on the immorality of the war in Vietnam. He asserts that the war is imparting negative implications to both the Vietnam and the United States.
Throughout his speech, Luther tries to point out the reasons why he is against the war. In order to rubbish people’s thoughts that his speech is religious-oriented, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. clearly examines the history of the war in Vietnam. He explains how Vietnam was build and now the buildings are being brought down as if devil was in control of the war. He notes that, the war is expensive. He points out how the war is crippling the poor in U.S. He stresses that, the war is devastating, although it is not happening in the U.S. soils. He then urges the church to join him in the opposition. For the first time, he clearly opens publicly that he is totally in opposition to the war and finally storms to his target point, “It is time to break silent.” He also takes the advantage of the media coverage to pass his information to the United States and the world at large. His speech is historical; it challenges the liberal value of the white, and hence threatens his status as an American hero.
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The Doctor’s speech seems to adopt rhetorical strategies than the previous speeches he had made. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr. asserts in this speech “We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” He further reaffirms, “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” Drawing illustrations from these particular quotes, it is worth noting that, the phrase “A time to break silence” is a symbolic statement that represents abandoning the old strategies King had previously applied to win religious support, and now staging in new strategies that he hopes will widely win the support of the white liberals. He seeks to convince his audience that his critics on the America’s involvement in the war in Vietnam are correct and ought to be listened to. Being a clergyman, King understands that he is a man of God and takes this advantage to speak with authority in an assertion that he is speaking God’s message. Besides, being a rights leader, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and an American hero, King seeks to persuade his audience that he is representing the America’s views on the Vietnam War, thus drawing the world’s attention that the war is unlawful.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech in this particular scenario also means that he has to maintain his relevance as a leader through reiterating his stand on the America’s involvement in the Vietnams war, in his future speeches. This would later reflect his growing radicalization, and consequently that of his followers. As a national leader, he has to maintain his stand on the America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. At this point, he has no right to remain silent on the Vietnam’s war; he has already broken silence and his ego requires that he continues speaking about the war in Vietnam.
It takes time for King to take his strong stand on the opposition of the America’s involvement in the Vietnam’s war. His strong opposition is strengthened by the emergency and growth of radicalized civil rights movement. He constantly makes comments calling for peace and negotiations for settlements in Vietnam. His opposition on the war in Vietnam is further enhanced by the opinion of the white liberals. His campaign against the war in Vietnam also involves letters to leaders calling them to stop the war and look for other negotiation terms. However, he does not get is easy; he meets opposition from a key ally of President Lyndon Jonson, Senator Thomas Dodd, who strongly speaks against him; questioning his credibility in the involvement in a department outside his expertise. In the fear to compromise the civil rights progression, King makes various consultations with various stakeholders who advise him to refrain from his strong opposition of the America’s involvement in the war in Vietnam. He thus chooses to remain silent, though he doesn’t announce publicly that he has stopped his opposition on the Vietnam’s war. It is worth to note that, King does not stop his opposition easily. In fact, he wouldn’t have stopped if he was not a civil rights activist.
Finally, King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam” gives him an opportunity to characterize with the rhetorical situation in the way he uses his words. Take for example the line, “For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.” Here, King applies the use of parallelism, and by so doing, arouses his audience’s emotions, triggering them to join him in the opposition against the war in Vietnam. Besides, his repetition of the phrase, “for the sake,” introduces a rhythmic tune, and consequently raises his audience willingness to receive his idea. He lyrically urges his listeners to stage a war against the unjustified Vietnam’s war.
In conclusion, Martin Luther King Jr. vehemently opposes the U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam. This is reflected in his use of phraseology, parallelism, symbolic action, and imagery. His parallelism and phraseology effectively arouses a point of conflict between the U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam and his audience. They further enhance his credibility in criticizing the war. Application of these stylistic devices in his speech effectively further proves that the war in Vietnam is unjust and against human rights.
