Another Kennedy, surely rolling over in his grave.
STATEMENT ON ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, APRIL 4, 1968
(The following text is taken from a news release version of Robert F. Kennedy’s statement.)
Senator Robert F. Kennedy
Indianapolis, Indiana
April 4, 1968
Video of the 5-minute speech from Robert Kennedy
h/t The Pale Scott for finding the video.
Text of the speech from Robert Kennedy
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 there 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: 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 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 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.
Source: Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Senate Papers. Speeches and Press Releases, Box 4, “4/1/68 – 4/10/68.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Still relevant?
Baud
Not sure if this is still true, if it was true then.
It’s a shame what happened to his kid.
John S.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of white people in this country have shown otherwise.
@mistermix.bsky.social
Just got back from the gym where I was watching blenderman on the TV, and it is bloody obvious that fucking piece of shit will say anything until he gets into office. He was eating shit the whole time.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Yeah, I choked on “vast” myself, but I think the rest might be true.
The pro-Trump faction is a slim majority.
WaterGirl
@@mistermix.bsky.social: They all lie. It started with Republican Supreme Court nominees and now Republicans can barely open their mouths without lying.
SW
Bobby jr. is broken, just one of millions of victims of gun violence. He deserves our pity. Not a government job.
The Audacity of Krope
Their voters expect no less.
Trollhattan
Most meaningful speech of my lifetime. Resonates still.
Trollhattan
@SW: After “live critters in the blender” I’m all out of pity. Icing on a turd cake.
His Kennedy-size sibling collection seem to have largely skirted his path.
WaterGirl
@Trollhattan: The line from his favorite poem brings me to tears every single time I read it or hear it.
WaterGirl
I am baffled each time Trump or RFK Jr is referred to as charismatic.
They are both repulsive creatures, the opposite of charismatic, and I cannot make sense of it.
Belafon
The vast majority of white people around me don’t actually care if black people improve their quality of life, as long as it doesn’t look like it came at the expense of a white person.
Trollhattan
Profiles in courage UK edition. The further one reads the worse it becomes.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
He believes “charismatic” is a synonym for “loud.”
Trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Same, and hearing it in his voice lends considerable gravitas.
But for Sirhan Sirhan we may well have avoided the Nixon Era, a robbery against America as great as the stolen 2000 and 2016 elections. History’s knife edge.
Baud
@NotMax:
Only works if you hate liberals. No loud liberal would be called charismatic.
Glory b
Let’s not forget that he made this speech off the cuff, right after hearing of the assassination.
He clearly had a great education.
NotMax
OT.
Blasted awake at 5:55 a.m. by both knees being on super ultra red alert. Sure sign of very nasty weather approaching in 24 to 36 hours.
7:55 now with little let up. May have to resort to taking some aspirin in order to take the edge off
danielx
@Trollhattan:
He kept Indianapolis from going up in smoke the way so many other cities did that night.
Without police protection, as the Indianapolis cops refused to provide escort for him and his entourage.
Kelly
Marisa Kabas: the freeze federal spending memo is rescinded…
https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3lgvjoy4a2s2t
Quinerly
RJK, Jr saying it is harder to get off of anti depressants than heroin.
Sen Tina Smith came out swinging. Her personal experiences.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Who is “he”? Because I am not referring to one person who says that. It is something that is said about both of them all too often. I am perplexed.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Sorry to hear that!
Trollhattan
@Quinerly:
Worst use of “And I otta know” I can name.
Trollhattan
@Kelly:
Good.
Think we need more Chris Murphy, going forward.
Citizen Alan
@Belafon:
It ALWAYS looks like it came at the expense of a white person in the eyes of a Republican! It is literally inconceivable to a conservative that anyone who is not a white straight Christian male could ever be more qualified than someone who checks all four of those boxes. Even conservatives who don’t check all those boxes still consider themselves inferior to white straight Christian males, though they are happy to believe that they are superior to anyone who checks fewer of those all-important boxes than themselves. (No one hates black people as much as conservative blacks, women as much as conservative women, gays as much as conservative gays, and liberal Christians as much as conservative Christians.)
Miss Bianca
@Quinerly: Never tried heroin, but I can say that I was able to get off anti-depressants just fine. Took them for a year, very low dose, they got me away from suicidal depression to non-suicidal depression. In other words, they did what they were supposed to do. so I stopped taking them.
However, I do know that other peoples’ experience (e.g., my ex) has been different.
oldgold
From TPM:
“The Justice Department further confirmed on Wednesday that it’s beholden to the new President by moving to dismiss the prosecutions against two Trump employees charged alongside him in the Mar-a-Lago records case.”
This is precisely why Garland should have dismissed them and released the Documents Report. That this was going to occur was obvious. What a damn disaster Garland was.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
At summer camp, whenever a camper asked what the weekly movie would be we’d jokingly respond with “Arthritis Can Be Fun.”
Trust me, it isn’t.
;)
Quinerly
@Miss Bianca:
Kennedy has tied school shootings to the use of anti depressants.
No school shooter has been shown to have been on anti depressants.
Quinerly
@Trollhattan:
I have become a HUGE fan of Murphy since the inauguration.
wenchacha
Did he realize when he said, “You won’t find a single Samoan saying they didn’t get a vaccine based on what I said,” that it might be that those Samoans are dead.
Shalimar
@Trollhattan: As Caroline pointed out, there was more than one cousin in their generation who died of overdoses. She apparently blames him for getting them all hooked. I unfortunately don’t think they skirted his path.
zhena gogolia
@Shalimar: Right.
gene108
@John S.:
I disagree. Republican share of the white vote has been relatively constant for decades irrespective of how openly racist their nominee is. For reasons I do not understand Republican voters have given up on democracy and want a one party state, with minimal opposition.
I think this is what baffles me. Some basic shared values citizens have has been jettisoned by Republicans.
A 2021 Gallup poll showed 94% of respondents approved of interracial marriage. Racism isn’t 1950’s level opposition to integration.
For reasons I do not understand, the Right in this country has decided to bow down to Trump’s racism and misogyny making it a central part of their goals. Racist misogynists are being given high profile jobs and setting the agenda.
There will be pushback. I think most companies are keeping their DEI programs, for example. Then there’s this:
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/pennsylvania-laura-smith-towamencin-township-nazi-salute-controversy-elon-musk/4089263/?amp=1
Peke Daddy
@Kelly: But not the freeze itself. He’s going to ignore the court and get the anti-impoundment act before SCOTUS.
Peke Daddy
@Peke Daddy: From WH press secretary:
“In light of the injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage. “The executive orders issued by the president on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments. This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the president’s orders on controlling federal spending. In the coming weeks and months, more executive action will continue to end the egregious waste of federal funding.”TIMES
brantl
Hell, yes it’s relevant, and it should be showcased for the differences having a heart makes in a leader. The contrast between RFK Sr. and Jr. couldn’t be more stark.
WTFGhost
I’m going to say it’s “still irrelevant” and, yes, that might be a bitter, monday-morning-QB look back at the issue, but, it misses the most important part of the assassination of MLKJr.
A LOT OF WHITE PEOPLE WANTED IT AND WERE GLAD.
“Black people, go home, and acknowledge the bitterness and anger and hate that A WHITE MAN killed the man who was fighting the hardest for you all, but pray for our WHOLE COUNTRY.”
How about:
“As for the people who despised Dr. King, as for those who hated the reverend, you should all hang your heads in shame, even if you never would have wished harm on him, because your feelings fueled the men who did their best to destroy unity, in these United States of America! I will not say you must suddenly sing King’s praises – but you should recognize that *this* is the wage of unchecked hate.”
A speechwriter could do a better job of it, subtly working in “you don’t have to love *him*, but you should feel a moment of shame for *yourselves*, because the gunman thought you loved him for his hate-filled violence, etc..”
It just ignores the figurative elephant in the room[1] of white people refusing to grant Black people equality, of white people buying postcards with pictures of lynchings on them… geez. Every now and then, I feel like grabbing a some dull-witted bigot and saying “imagine if a man could say he wants to (do something awful to) your wife, while you watch and cheer him on, and if you don’t cheer loud enough, he’ll cut off one of her fingers. *THAT* is slavery. THAT is how much SICK you have to accept if you live with slavery. THAT is how much CONTEMPT you have to feel for people, that you don’t care about that being lawful.”
Um. I have feelings about this.
[1] “elephant in the room” is an legendary story of dysfunctional families, especially ones with an abuser. No one mentions the abuse, so one child said “it’s like there’s an elephant in the room, but no one talks about it.”
ETA: minor word flow change.
WTFGhost
@gene108: One thing about racism, is, Republicans (and “yeah, really, we’re not Republicans” right wing performance assholes) all insist that the reason *you* can’t get a job, Mr. White Person, is that all the good jobs were given away to Blacks, and immigrants, and Asians (when they’re a useful group to attack), and women, and gay people, and transexuals. NO ONE, they say, BUT US CARES ABOUT THE WHITE MAN!
The reasons good jobs are hard to find is the middle class has been getting squeezed for ages. Jobs are more scarce, and pay less, and a lot of things that were traditional “get hired” jobs are now contracting or “gig labor”. All of this happens when the wealthy find a way to spend less, by shoving costs onto us.
The worst part is when the cost isn’t even money – someone decides to move a pig farm *way* too close, and far too upwind, of residential properties, and the people in those residences pay a massive cost that they shouldn’t have to pay – the externalities of the pig farm, which should be borne by the farmer.
The Pale Scot
Here’s the video clip
https://youtu.be/ByFMoDEGfTo?t=33
WaterGirl
@The Pale Scot: Thank you! The only video clip I had found showed the french translation in HUGE LETTERS across the entire screen. Not helpful!
I replaced the audio up top with your video.
Tehanu
Bobby Kennedy improvised that speech in the few hours between hearing the news and getting up & making the speech, with fears for riots, the refusal of the police to provide any protection, and his own grief as background. I suppose if he’d had 50 years more experience between 1968 and now and could read your mind he’d have said something you personally could approve.
WaterGirl
@WTFGhost: If Robert Kennedy had given the speech you suggest, I’m pretty sure that Indianapolis would have gone up in flames as most of the big cities did in response to the death of Martin Luther King.
There’s a time for everything, and on that particular day I believe the time was right for exactly what he said.
Paul in KY
He was the best Kennedy. 1968 was the shittiest year. 2020 (until Nov 6) is 2nd, so far…