Radio Workshop

Activists Commemorate the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Transcript)

by Nancy Farghalli

Narration: Martin Luther King Jr. made his first public statement against the Vietnam War at the Riverside Church. Fellow civil rights activists implored King not to take a stance against Vietnam. They were afraid his views might detract from the civil rights movement. King disagreed; he believed Vietnam was connected to the struggle for equality at home.

Start sound from speech: We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem.

Narration: The crowd stood together in the morning drizzle in front of the Riverside church to commerate King's speech. James Forbes is the Senior Minister at the church. He says King had the courage to speak in a time when dissent was discouraged.

CUT: This speech was a speech that challenged the policies of our nation while we were at war. And, people tend not to want to do that even he expressed in his speech that he didn't easily challenge his nation at a time of war.

Narration: Many in the crowd came to support King's decision to speak out three decades ago. Michael Breslin drove down from Massachusetts. He thinks King's speech is about courage--and community, a message that resonates in the present climate of war.

CUT: I'm down here to be part of history, but also to bear witness and not remain silent.

Narration: Silence is not what the organizers want. Minister Bob Edgar says King's words should inspire others to act.

CUT: We want peace and we want justice. We want a care for the children huddled in bagdad today, fearful that a bomb will drop on their house. The fears of the young men and women who have to fight and serve during this time.

Narration: From Riverside Church, the crowd formed a procession marching five miles from Riverside church to Bryant Park.

Fade up: Music from dixie band

A dixie band played as they walked, paying their respects to a man who died 35 years ago today.

For Columbia Radio News, I'm Nancy Farghalli

--Music--credits