Amid the tragedy of the
assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, April 4, 1968, an
extraordinary moment in U.S. political history occurred as Robert F.
Kennedy, younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, broke the
news of King's death to a large gathering of African Americans in
Indianapolis, Indiana.
The gathering was actually a planned campaign rally for Robert
Kennedy in his bid to get the 1968 Democratic nomination for President.
Just after he arrived by plane at Indianapolis, Kennedy was told of
King's death. He was advised by police against making the campaign stop
which was in a part of the city considered to be a dangerous ghetto.
But Kennedy insisted on going.
He arrived to find the people in an upbeat mood, anticipating
the excitement of a Kennedy appearance. He climbed onto the platform,
and realizing they did not know, broke the news.
Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm
only going to talk to you just for a minute
or so this evening. Because...
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 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 these rather difficult times.
My favorite poet was
Aeschylus. 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.
So I ask you tonight to
return home, to say a prayer for the family
of Martin Luther King, yeah 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. And
we
will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence;
it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's 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 that abide in our
land.
Let us dedicate 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. Thank you very much.
Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968
Just two months later, Robert Kennedy was gunned down during a
celebration
following his victory in the California primary, June 5, 1968.
