Martin luther king jr spoke out against the treatment of african american soldiers because they suffered a disproportionate share of combat deaths.
Since the government used black soldiers to fight in wars in the front lines, plenty of black people passed away and thousands black families died.
In the speech he delivered, he claimed: “We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem.”