Robert Kennedy's statement to a crowd on 4/4/68 in Indianapolis, Indiana on MLK,Jr. death

[book_worm]

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rfkonmlkdeath.html

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some -- some very sad news for all of you -- Could you lower those signs, please? -- I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black -- considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to fill with -- be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

[rateyes]

1. The world would be a much better place if

RFK had not been assassinated. What if?

[brandon47]

2. excellent statement

RIP MLK and RFK

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. I remember that speech on TV then

It was extremely moving and spontaneous
RFK could quote great writers instantiously, he read
to his children at night, not fables, but the great writings of history.

[book_worm]

4. kick

[spanone]

5. i heard that on npr this morning....rarely does a politician speak from the heart anymore

he never looked at his prepared text - he spoke to the people from his heart - and had to TELL THEM that MLK had been shot....

[saltpoint]

6. Then-Mayor of Indianapolis, Richard Lugar, asked Kennedy NOT to

speak before that audience, fearing unrest. Kennedy's instincts prevailed and he spoke to them as you've given it to us in your post.

It is one of the finest moments in the history of politics when the gravity of history is rendered as deeply-felt respect for a fallen champion.

I really appreciate your posting this. Thank you.

[gauguin57]

7. Ah, to have a politician, in this day and age, who has the courage to quote Aeschylus!

Can't do that anymore ... a politician in 2008 is not supposed to have any kind of egghead edge ... gotta be "the guy you wanna have a beer with"!

RIP Martin and Bobby.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Perhaps the greatest unscripted speech ever given by a politcal leader

[horseshoecrab]

9. Thank you for posting this!

:kick: