“They too are our brothers” (King), a statement that touched the heart of the American soul when it was preached first introduced by influential civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 during his controversial Beyond Vietnam speech. To the average American, this came as a surprise, because the man who had united them was now adding to the flame of division caused by the stagnant conflict in Vietnam. As a result, leaders who had once supported him in his civil rights crusade, such as Lyndon B. Johnson, now viewed him as a threat to an American mission that was on the wrong side of the moral spectrum. However, while it may have seemed divisive to leaders and ordinary Americans who sacrificed so much during the campaign, the speech served to shine a light. At the forefront of his speech, King pleads on behalf of the poor and racial minorities, stating: "So we watch them, in brutal solidarity, burn the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would have a hard time living in the same neighborhood in Chicago” (King). Furthermore, James Lafferty's memory of the war supports King's argument that the poor faced systematic racism at the national level when he recalled that "people suffering from legitimate illnesses under the written regulations put forth through the Selective Service System were approved for military service” due to their inability to afford an income. formal exemption from doctor (Appy 165). More explicitly, on the battle front, Yuseff Komunyakka reflected on a time when black people faced insults from those they jumped on a grenade to save and yet the cinema industrial complex gave them no face in their representation of war heroes (Appy 259). For the most part, it may have been his socially conferred inferior racial status that allowed him to establish relationships with the Vietnamese, friend or foe, and consequently express an opinion that many have called a crusade . for democracy or what Martin Luther King jr. considered a “political myth”. Rather, it was King's frame of reference, as a black spiritual preacher from the racially segregated South of the United States, that allowed him to grasp the complexities of Vietnam that traditional orientalist views do not. could not understand. Complexities that can be heard in the oral histories compiled in Patriots that touch on the life-changing experiences of witnessing, supporting or fighting in the conflict that lasted more than a decade. Looking back, we recognize that this speech delivered in the middle of war in 1967 was ahead of its time, but when it was first delivered it was seen as a risk by its opponents and as madness by its allies. Therefore, the lose-lose situation of King's position demonstrates that Beyond Vietnam went further than any of his own political programs and was purely a moral act intended to promote freedom and democracy for those who were forgotten by society and the government during the war.