○  名人演讲： a time to break silence  ○

chose as our motto: "to save the soul of america." we were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that america would never be free or saved from itself until the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear. in a way we were agreeing with langston hughes, that black bard of harlem, who had written earlier:

o, yes,
i say it plain,
america never was america to me,
and yet i swear this oath --
america will be!

now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of america today can ignore the present war. if america's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: vietnam. it can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. so it is that those of us who are yet determined that america will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land.

as if the weight of such a commitment to the life and health of america were not enough, another burden of responsibility was placed upon me in 1954** [sic]; and i cannot forget that the nobel prize for peace was also a commission -- a commission to work harder than i had ever worked before for "the brotherhood of man." this is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present i would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of jesus christ. to me the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that i sometimes marvel at those who ask me why i'm speaking against the war. could it be that they do not know that the good news was meant for all men -- for communist and capitalist, for their children and ours, for black and for white, for revolutionary and conservative? have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one who loved his enemies so ful

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