John Whitehead's Commentary

When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.--Martin Luther King, Jr.

The world is in mourning following the death of Pope John Paul II. However, rather than dwelling on his death, perhaps it would be more fitting to celebrate his life. The Pope was consistent in voicing his beliefs, especially in promoting what he termed the "culture of life." Whether it was speaking against abortion, euthanasia or even the prospect of war, Pope John Paul II never shied from his duty to pronounce his beliefs. Faced with the prospect of the United States declaring war on Iraq, the Pope is quoted as saying, "No to war! War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity."

In the 1960s, there was another great man who adamantly voiced his concerns about the actions of the United States. On April 4, 1967, one year to the day before his assassination, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke out against the Vietnam War. Addressing members of the Riverside Church in New York City, he affirmed, "A time comes when silence is betrayal."

In the first couple paragraphs of his speech, he stated, "Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war." However, King could not stand idly by and watch as what he believed to be injustice was committed. He even spoke out about the war when members of the Civil Rights Movement accused him of weakening their cause. King said they claimed, "Peace and civil rights don't mix." In response to his critics, King said his mission and that of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was "to save the soul of America." He went on to explain, "If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam."

A large portion of King's speech explained why the presence of the U.S. in Vietnam was immoral. It began, "America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube." King noted that it was the poor who were being sent to fight in the war. In addition, the war taught that the use of violence to achieve social change was acceptable. King stated, "I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today--my own government." He went on to state other reasons and then gave recommendations to end the injustice, which can be summarized as withdrawal of troops from Vietnam and an end to the war.

The rest of King's speech explained why he believed, "The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit." He feared that if this malady was not corrected, the U.S. would continue to be involved in situations like Vietnam. He called for a "radical revolution of values" and stated, "We must rapidly begin to shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society," demanding a "true revolution of values."

King proclaimed, "A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." Simply giving to the poor, he believed, was no longer enough. One must strive to correct social injustice. He went on to state, "A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth." In other words, Americans must be concerned with the social betterment of the less fortunate.

King did not stop there, but went on to say that our nation must reform its notions regarding war. "A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, 'this way of settling differences is not just.'" He continued to condemn war, saying, "This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, or injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love."

King declared that the only solution is "an all-embracing and unconditional love for all mankind." He maintained that "We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate."

The world is plagued with a history of destructive war. King feared that if a change in American values is not achieved, this history would continue. He worried that if action did not happen soon, it might be impossible. He warned, "In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time."

Looking at today's society, it is clear that King's revolution of values did not occur. We do not value human life as we should and are, unfortunately, currently entangled in a brutal war in Iraq. In 1967, Dr. King concluded his speech by informing his listeners, "We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action."

Today's society is faced with the same decision. Hopefully, our nation will be brave enough to adopt the revolution of values that Martin Luther King called for so many years ago--before it is, as he warned, "too late."

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

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