Robert F. Kennedy Speech on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death
April 4, 1968, Indianapolis, Indiana
I have bad news for you, 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 killed tonight.
Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.
In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is 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 their evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization -- black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.
Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.
For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I 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 go beyond these rather difficult times.
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "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 or lawlessness; but 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 they be black.
So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.
We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.
Let us dedicate to ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.
Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.
8 comments:
I have such mixed feelings here. The talk of love and unity sounds good, but for how long must we withstand the oppression and tyranny of the elite? I think we miss the point when we view this in terms of racism. Yes, racism is real. But it's a diversion from the real class war that is being waged against the American worker. White, black, and everybody in between is a part of this struggle. Our struggle must be to lift up all of humanity. We must recognize that the oppression we face is not about religion, ethnicity, or political affiliation; it is about class. And the only way we will ever win is to unite against the powers of tyranny and oppression.
dave,
http://journals.aol.com/ibspiccoli4life/RandomThoughtsfromaProgressiveMi
Dave certainly has a valid insight. But at the time of this poignant speech, when the power of Organized Labor was just past its Zenith, the plight of the working class was not as dire. The safety nets of the Great Society and the War on Poverty were just beginning to function. In 1968 racism WAS the big issue. I agree with Dave, since the demolition of our government-funded social services under Reagan/Bush (and now Bush again) and since the humbling of Organized Labor under the mantra of Free Market Reform, we're all getting clobbered in this marketplace. Still, I am moved by reading Robert Kennedy's speech -- moved and challenged. Thank you for reminding us of these words.
"to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world."
Beautiful!
Thanks for sharing this! I don't think I've ever read this. I do enjoy reading what Martin Luther King, Jr. had to say. I think I'll spend some quiet time tomorrow in reflection over one of his speeches tomorrow in commeration of one of the greatest men our country ever had in its citizenry. :-) ---Robbie
dave - you are so right, and i agree with every word you write here in your comment. but, Tim is right, this posting was a historical one - a remembering of what this man whom we celebrate this weekend accomplished for a people who had remained in essentially the same condition from the Emancipation Proclamation until the civil actions of the 60's produced the result of desegregation. One hundred years of little or no progress. In the 1960's race WAS the issue. There have been several important civil rights movements in my lifetime, after this one came the second wave of feminism, whose results are so established now that most of todays young women aren't even aware of what women of my generation accomplished.
yes, the real ultimate absolute and total struggle is one of class, and that is so little realized by most people today. you as a union member know this, anyone who has socialist roots or leanings knows this - our job now is to make this known to those who are screwing themselves by adopting the "moral" agenda of today's leaders and voting against their class interests. Thomas Frank's book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" sets forth this problem in no uncertain terms.
i'm glad you're still visiting my journal. i love intelligent commentary.
Joetimkc,
You are right. My comment does not recognize the historic import of this speech. Racism was and is a real problem. I would never deny that. But whad did blacks win? The words of Helen Keller come to mind:
"Our democracy is but a name. We vote? What does that mean? It means we choose between two bodies of real, though not avowed, autocrats, We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee...."
This is not to say that no advances were made. But we still have a long way to go. The life expectency for a black man in the inner city is on par with most third world and developing countries. Blacks are incarcerated at much higher rates than whites; and as a result, as in states like Florida, permanently disenfranchised from the voting process.
But the elite will always find ways to divide us by race, religion, or who knows what else. We must band together and wage a bitter class war for true freedom. I truly believe that if we build a strong class struggle that is non-sexist and non-racist, that we can pull ourselves up out of the misery of wage slavery and oppression. We're in this together. Too often I see my union brothers and sisters complaining about what the 'illegal immigrant' is doing, but that same brother or sister doesn't seem to mind that the wealth he is creating is largely going to an absentee lord. We have to help each other realize the real struggle isn't between working people. It is between those of us who produce wealth and those who simply wish to live off of the wealth we produce.
Struggle on
dave
http://journals.aol.com/ibspiccoli4life/RandomThoughtsfromaProgressiveMi
These were important words, at a moment in our history when we were so very fortunate to have a man like RFK to speak them from the heart. When Dr King was shot, I was 12 years old. I did not appreciate the great loss his death represented, for all Americans.
When Kennedy was shot a few months later, I was stunned.
Looking back now I recognize that both King and Kennedy were on a path to bring great and important changes to America. Bobby was a figure of hope and promise but he was just at the starting line, while Dr King had already accomplished much before we lost him in that year of terrible violence.
Since his death I have read much and reflected often on his great courage, wisdom and compassion. There is much we could learn from the example of Dr King, and with so much needing to be done I so wish we had his leadership today.
I wish we had both these good men back.
Neil
Thanks for this great tribute to TWO of my heroes!
Your entry has restored some faith back in me. I was beginning to wonder why there were no entries regarding Dr. King’s birthday.
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