Beyond Vietnam : A Time to Break Silence " , also referred as Riverside Church speech , is an anti – Vietnam War and pro – social justice speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4 , 1967 , exactly one year before he was assassinated . The major speech at Riverside Church in New York City , followed several interviews and several other public speeches in which King came out against the Vietnam War and the policies that created it . Some , like civil rights leader Ralph Bunche , the NAACP , and the editorial page writers of '' The Washington Post '' and '' The New York Times '' called the Riverside Church speech a mistake on King 's part . The '' New York Times '' editorial suggested that conflating the civil rights movement with the anti-war movement was an oversimplification that did justice to neither , stating that " linking these hard , complex problems will lead not to solutions but to deeper confusion . " Others , including James Bevel , King 's partner and strategist in the Civil Rights Movement , called it King 's most important speech . It was written by activist and historian Vincent Harding
assassinated
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence