Still Relevant
In his 1967 speech "Beyond Vietnam," Dr. Martin Luther King says, “Some who have already begun to break the silence of the night has found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” Meaning, regardless of how bad the circumstances were for Black Americans and Vietnamese people at that time they must speak and stand up for their rights. Dr. King wanted Vietnamese citizens, American troops, and American citizens to speak out about how the Vietnam War was hurting everyone as this war went on.. He wanted the American and Vietnamese government to know how their people are feeling about a war that’s supposed to help the people. King argues, “I could never again raise my voice against the violence in the world today: my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.” In “Beyond Vietnam,” King talks about the deaths of a million innocent women and children whose lives were being taken in Vietnam and how the America’s issues are too volatile to ignore. He demanded both governments to stop the war and solve each country’s issue. In 2015, Martin Luther King’s “A Time to Break Silence” is still meaningful because we as humans on this Earth are now currently speaking out in hard situations.
Speaking with words is much more powerful and peaceful than speaking with weapons. Take a look at how many people gathered to just hear Martin Luther King speak, one would think he had his own armed forces. A majority of American and Vietnamese citizens at that time did not understand how powerful a voice was. Instead, they thought that a gun could change an opinionated mind. Dr. King describes the state of mind, “The only change came from America as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support.” (King). King believed that giving a peaceful speech during a dramatic time would convince both country’s citizens to show the same thing. In the sixties it was hard for minorities to speak for themselves because the law was always rearing close ready to shut them up. So when people saw Martin Luther King a black man, speak against his own country’s decisions, bravery struck a lot of different races of people across the world. In todays time this type of bravery has not gone away. People from different backgrounds gather together to speak for what is right for society. 
The death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 is a perfect example of societies peacefully expressing their outrage. Many riots and protests from residents, celebrities and people across the world took place because on August 9th Mike Brown, an eighteen year old black man was shot by twenty-eight year old Darren Wilson a white police officer. In the media some thought the killing was justified, while most thought it was not, either way the people in Ferguson were not happy with the police. Instead of staying quiet and afraid, the people in Ferguson made sure the whole country knew what happened. Many people protested, while some shamelessly caused chaos,
but overall the citizens just wanted to be heard. For Example, students at Duke University gathered to pray with each other and then marched across their campus. “It was really a spirit of the moment,”says Ciera Echols, a senior who organized the event. “People say you can’t make a difference marching, but just coming together expressing ourselves -- it was just really beautiful to see everyone come out tonight.” Another example would be in Washington D.C where a group of protesters marched through Union Station, the Capitol and stopped at the steps of the Supreme Court. “Obama says, 'I support Trayvon Martin's parents, I support Michael Brown's parents’,” announced by one speaker into a microphone. “He should support us. He sent us a cease and desist. He should say, ‘This is wrong!’.” Protesters in Washington D.C also staged a ‘die-in’ in front of the Metro police headquarters. 
“We did the 'die-in' for four and a half minutes to represent the four and a half hours they let Michael Brown lay in the street dead, unattended,” says the protester Angie Brilliance, who planned the ‘die-in’ in front of the Metro Police headquarters. Similar to Dr. King’s movement in the late fifties to late sixties, their brave protests were able to spread across the United States to places such as Oakland, New York City, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Washington D.C, Boston, and even across the world in places like London. Through the actions in today’s world people are calling out the law enforcements mistakes and saying you do not have to bend down to justice. You can do it peacefully.
“Beyond Vietnam” still does inspire people in today's time. Without Dr. King and his speech, it would have been much harder for someone to speak up. The American government was much different in King’s time. So without him, people would not want to speak up about the unfair treatment of law enforcement because they would be too afraid of the cost. But thankfully citizens are now speaking up about their ideas and opinions more aggressively now than ever. Now, they do not care about the consequence but instead they search for a solution. As people of color, we have to ALWAYS remember why we are now able to have free speech. We have to remember that Martin Luther King is the reason why. He not only spoke up for his people but for all races he saw were being treated unfairly.
WORKS CITED
Yan, Holly, Almasy, Steve. (2014, November 26th. London is latest city to see protests as Ferguson dismay spreads. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/national-ferguson-demonstrations/index.html
Luther King J.R, Martin. Beyond Vietnam A Time to Break Silence. Retrieved from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
