“The Fierce Urgency of Now” — Michelle Alexander and Lucas Johnson
On Being with Krista Tippett

“The Fierce Urgency of Now” — Michelle Alexander and Lucas Johnson

B2Upper-intermediateMay 7, 20261 hr 16 min

From Krista: On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Riverside Church in New York City called “A Time to Break Silence.” This is often referred to as his “Beyond Vietnam” Speech. His own allies criticized it as a risky departure from a focus on civil rights. But Dr. King had never seen his calling confined to those two words. The Vietnam War needed to end, he believed, and he needed to say that plain. And in the waging of this war — and all of its consequences for people at home, especially the poor — he saw an under...

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Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Riverside Church in New York City titled,

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On April 4th, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Riverside Church in New York City titled, A Time to Break Silence. This is often referred to as his beyond Vietnam speech. His own allies railed against it as a risky departure from a focus on civil rights.

0:47

But Dr. King had never seen his calling confined to those two words, and his vision never stopped devolving. The Vietnam War needed to end, he believed, and he needed to say that plane. And in the waging of this war and all of its consequences for people at home, especially the American poor, he saw an underlying crisis that threatened the

1:11

very soul of our nation. On that same date this year, the 59th anniversary of this speech, hundreds gathered again a riverside for reflection, song, and a reading of portions of the speech. It was drafted by Dr. King's friend and comrade Vincent Harding, a beloved former on-being

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