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馬丁·路德·金是美國(guó)的民權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)領(lǐng)袖，他為黑人謀求平等，甚至獻(xiàn)出了自己的生命，被譽(yù)為是"黑人的麥加"。而與此同時(shí)，馬丁·路德·金也是一名卓越的反戰(zhàn)斗士，他關(guān)心的不僅僅是"小我"的權(quán)利，而且還有"大我"的和平、自由。如果你一直以來只是把馬丁·路德·金看成一個(gè)黑人運(yùn)動(dòng)領(lǐng)袖，那么下面的這篇演講相信會(huì)讓你對(duì)他有新的認(rèn)識(shí)--馬丁·路德·金的偉大人格值得我們每一個(gè)仰視尊敬。

本演講發(fā)表于1967年4月4日，是馬丁·路德·金在"憂世教士和俗人協(xié)會(huì)"的一個(gè)反越站的集會(huì)上的演講，集會(huì)的地點(diǎn)是紐約著名的河邊大教堂（Riverside Church）。

點(diǎn)擊播放按鈕聽音頻：

I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statements of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart, and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: "A time comes when silence is betrayal." And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. 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. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have 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. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: "Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King?" "Why are you joining the voices of dissent?" "Peace and civil rights don't mix," they say. "Aren't you hurting the cause of your people," they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

In the light of such tragic misunderstanding, I deem it of signal importance to try to state clearly, and I trust concisely, why I believe that the path from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church -- the church in Montgomery, Alabama, where I began my pastorate -- leads clearly to this sanctuary tonight.