The above quote comes from the organization entitled "Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam", of which this sentiment was utilized most strikingly by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his speech of April 4, 1967, entitled "Beyond Vietnam" delivered in New York City. Though, Dr. King's speech specifically addressed the unjustness of the Vietnam war, such a call that silence can certainly be a form of betrayal is as true today as it was during the time of the Vietnam war, especially in a country, that insists it has the right to intervene with military force, along with economic sanctions, and additionally with political machinations inside sovereign countries, and as much as possible, does so under the cover of "national security," has fully betrayed its own nation and what this nation truly represents through its Declaration of Independence, its Constitution, and a country of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The lofty words of justice and liberty for all, mean nothing, if such does not exist for wide swaths of Americans, that live under the conditions of a police state, as well as often being segregated into impoverished sections of American cities, are ill educated, are denied job opportunities, and are unfairly persecuted by draconian drug laws, enacted to criminalize behavior that primarily is self inflicted, of which, a just country would see to it that the conditions that create this sort of environment was addressed first, before incarcerating so many essentially for the joint crime of being poor and making poor lifestyle choices.
So too, middle America, too often has been fooled into believing the rot that this is their country, right or wrong, when, in fact, they should be quite concerned about what this country does rightly or wrongly here and abroad, and should be up in arms, when this country consistently does the wrong things, because such wrong, can only be corrected by doing right, for every wrong act, must be rectified by the right act, for this is the very nature of justice in the first place, and when such a country has a laundry list of wrong actions performed over decades and decades of systemic induced wrong, than the people of this country should tremble to their very knees, with the understanding, that justice will not slumber forever, and that such justice, when awoken, will come upon them with the fury of a mighty cleansing river.
The reason that evil prevails so often is not because evil is powerful, though it may well be, and not because evil is so prevalent, though it may well be, but mainly because too many good men do not have the courage to take a stand and to therefore confront evil at its source, to call evil for what it is, and to make their voices heard so as to lead others to the cause in order to effect real, lasting, and meaningful change.
America through and through does not now live up to its calling to be a country of justice equally applied, nor does it provide liberty for all, and it does not permit its people the free and unencumbered pursuit of happiness, but rather instead it has morphed into a country that says one thing, and does a very different thing, of which, fundamentally, way too often, its actions are akin to those: "…that call evil good, and good evil;…" (Isaiah 5:20), of which silence is not the appropriate response to such a betrayal of those that "… gave the last full measure of devotion," to their country, in order that such a country would actually live up to living the creed that all men are created equal, and are thereby equally entitled to justice and liberty.