10. Why did Martin Luther King condemn America’s War in and on Vietnam? And How did he do it?
World Veterans Against War Statement on Martin Luther King Day 2024
It has been argued that the key, indeed critical influence on Martin Luther King’s coming out totally, completely, and forcefully against America’s War in and on the Peoples, Land, Country, and Nation of Vietnam ~ despite the very real risks and threats that such opposition would generate for America’s Civil Rights Movement and, as it turned out, for King personally, as well ~ that influence was Thich Nhat Hahn: the Vietnamese Buddhist Monk who the Nobel Laureate Dr King formally nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967, even before his anti-War speeches in the Churches and elsewhere.
The text of Dr King’s Letter of Nomination is available at https://plumvillage.org/letter-from-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-nominating-thich-nhat-hanh-for-the-nobel-peace-prize-in-1967, and begins:
“As the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate of 1964, I now have the pleasure of proposing to you the name of Thich Nhat Hanh for that award in 1967. I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam.”
For an overview of the relationship between Dr King and Thich Nhat Hahn, and Thay’s [Vietnamese for “Teacher”] impact on King’s stance on the War, see any and/or all of the following:
1, “Thích Nhất Hạnh and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Spiritual brothers, partners in nonviolence” at https://usfblogs.usfca.edu/fierce-urgency/2021/10/12/thich-nhat-hanh-and-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-spiritual-brothers-partners-in-nonviolence/ .
2. “’I Have Always Felt His Support’: A look into the friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr., two brothers working to build a Beloved Community” at https://tricycle.org/article/martin-luther-king-thich-nhat-hanh/ .
3. “What Happens When Two Giants Meet?” at https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/blog/2017/8/9/when-giants-meet .
4. “The Buddhist and The Christian: When Thich Nhat Hanh Met Martin Luther King Jr.” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo34-B5EXYw .
And for a detailed history of that relationship ~ from its beginnings in 1965 to after King’s assassination ~ see BROTHERS IN THE BELOVED COMMUNITY: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr., by The Right Reverend Dr. Marc Andrus, the 8th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California.
BROTHERS is available from Parallax Press at https://www.parallax.org/product/brothers-in-the-beloved-community/#product-content , and Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1952692458?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 .
To paraphrase Edith and Archie Bunker: “Mister, we could use some men like TNH and MLK agaaain… .”