It’s been 46 years since Martin Luther King denounced the Vietnam War on the steps of Sproul Plaza in front of a crowd of 7,000. His Berkeley speech continued the theme he had started articulating one month earlier in his famous sermon at Riverside Church in New York City.
You can watch an excerpt from KPIX’s archives of the May 17, 1967 Berkeley speech. You can also listen to an excerpt from the American Radio Works.
Here’s a quote: “I see so many fine, bright, promising young men taken out of society, taken out of school, and sent away to fight in this unjust war. And what we are saying is we are our boys' best friends because we want them to come home. It's time to come home from Vietnam!”
Less than a year after the speech at Sproul, James Earl Ray murdered King in Memphis.
Were you at Sproul in May 1967? What do you remember from that day? Share your recollecions below.
Patch editor Emily Henry contributed to this report.
