In The Blogs

The Death of MLK Jr.: RFK Said It Best

| Fri Apr. 4, 2008 7:38 AM PDT

It's been four decades since Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed. On the occasion of this anniversary, there's much media coverage of his life and his death. In the all the years that have passed since that tragic moment, a flood of commentary has flowed. Yet it remains hard to improve upon what Bobby Kennedy said on the night of that assassination in Indianapolis, where he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. He spoke extemporaneously and had the hard task of informing the crowd of King's violent death. Here is the audio of Kennedy's remarks accompanied by a photo montage:

As many commentators have noted, there were riots in cities across America when people learned of the news of King's murder, but there was calm in Indianapolis that horrible night.

Two months later, RFK would be shot and killed. If you want to see actual footage of Kennedy speaking to the crowd in Indianapolis (with Italian subtitles superimposed), you'll find it after the jump:

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Continued From Above

Comments

Submitted by Ben (not verified) on Fri Apr. 4, 2008 8:16 AM PDT.

Dude, that is totally Italian. You really need to learn a little Spanish.

Submitted by Legacy on Fri Apr. 4, 2008 8:23 AM PDT.

Thanks for the correction--or grazie.

Submitted by elydog (not verified) on Fri Apr. 4, 2008 11:01 AM PDT.

It is somwehat remarkable that the anniversery of the assissination of ML King is so hygenic that we still have few questions about the killing.

According to the book "Orders to Kill" by William Pepper, he was assassinated by the top marksman of the Memphis PD, as part of a triangulated kill zone, with U.S. military snipers in positions on other buildings.

The shooter hid in the bushes across from the Lorraine. Ray, like Oswald and Sirhan was just a patsy. The CIA ran an assissination program in the U.S., similar to what they had done overseas for years. Both Kennedys and King were its victims.

They controlled or influenced the investigations, and if you can do that, you can hide anything.

Submitted by David (not verified) on Fri Apr. 4, 2008 12:39 PM PDT.

I was not even 4 years old when King (and later RFK) were assassinated, but listening to the audio this morning, I was brought to tears. It made me realize how resigned I've been to how political our elected representatives are these days and reminded me why I support Barack Obama. When I hear him speak, I hear someone who inspires people to do what's right for others, someone who truly cares about this country, not someone who pretends to care for political purposes. I sincerely think there is a groundswell for this kind of inspiration and leadership from someone who will accentuate the positive and make us feel hopeful and caring for each other, rather than continually feed the us-against-them mentality that gets media coverage. Let's hope the majority of the voters choose that path in November.

Submitted by JOHN (not verified) on Fri Apr. 4, 2008 2:06 PM PDT.

Higher education is still free in France and other counties. When will the Govt. put education and health before war and commerce? It's not about black or white it's about equality for all. To give peace a chance we need to give every citizen an equal.

Submitted by Kathy Giannini (not verified) on Fri Apr. 4, 2008 2:33 PM PDT.

I think that each of us by his or her own initiative has a responsibility for the future of our world. Yet I understand the need for inspiration from a person you can look up to.
John Kennedy was an inspiring orator. His brother's words here are also very moving.
It's all the more difficult to reconcile their public images with their links to various ambiguous figures. In documentaries shown here in France, the election of John F. Kennedy in certain key states, one of which may have been Illinois, was said to be "delivered" by figures linked to organized crime. His reticence to push his program of civil rights forward was linked to his own poliical ambitions of being re-elected. His death may have been caused by those very ambiguous figures who helped him get elected in the first place. Yet what he said was inspiring and we need to be inspired.
LBJ was neither young nor handsome nor well-spoken when he became president. But he got the civil rights legislation voted in. And yet, I understand why people were not inspired by him.
Right now, the "litmus test" of the century, politically speaking, is the boycott of the Olympic Games in China. The woman who lost the French presidential race has come out clear and strong for the boycott. You would be inspired, I'm sure, by her statement. You would certainly be justified in thinking that her commitment rises above "politics as usual". But our three candidates in the American presidential haven't taken a stand, have they?
Obama is as politically expedient as the two others. But I can understand why his speeches inspire. And you need to be inspired.

Submitted by Jonathan (not verified) on Fri Apr. 4, 2008 9:32 PM PDT.

Your comments sound a little condescending to me Kathy. Today is a day, if you choose, to contemplate Dr Martin Luther King Jr's contributions to the world and to reflect upon his untimely and violent death. Contemplating, perhaps, how both Dr King's amazing crusade for human rights and his unjustified and cruel death could both be born in America. Some also contemplate how those contradictions apply to our society today and what we have done to fight injustice.

It is true that Obama's speeches are inspirational. That doesn't mean that Americans are simple-minded though. I belive that most everyone enjoys inpirational speeches. It is also true that LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act, but lest we not forget he also expanded the Vietnam War to nightmarish levels, helping to 'bomb Vietnam into the Stone Age', killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people including many thousands of young Americans.

America is in the midst of an extremely heated primary race, is it really surprising that no candidate has advocated an Olympic boycott in this type of atmosphere? I recall China supplying arms to Sudan and Burma during the French election last year, and China was violating human rights in Tibet then, that's not a new development. Correct me if I'm wrong but during the French election run I think Segolene Royal said a whole lotta nothing about China and its right abuses, certainly she didn't use her podium at that point to advocate for a boycott of the Olympic Games. I appreciate her speaking now and would love more politicians to join her.

Submitted by Kathy Giannini (not verified) on Sat Apr. 5, 2008 5:08 AM PDT.

Yes, she did broach the topic of human rights in China, but what the media seized upon was a comment that certain legal procedures were better organized in China than in France and that people had to wait less time for trials. The press coverage made it sound like she approved of the Chinese government wholeheartedly.

Another thing she was severely criticized for was her conviction that everybody had to get around the table in the Palestine--Israel situation. Oddly enough, this thing blew up right as she was leaving the Palestinians to talk with the Israelis and she was very well received in Israel. I think a lot of Israelis share this opinion of getting all the groups around the table because a lot of them have Palestinians colleagues and friends. American Jews, who live well away from contact with Palestinians, have more difficulty evolving. And our candidates have to nail the AMERICAN Jewish vote, all three of our candidates do, they are all practicing "politics as usual", Obama included.

This doesn't bother me unduly. It's reality: You wanna change things, you gotta get elected.

Or do you have to get elected? Martin Luther King did not get elected, but no one would argue that he didn't change things. And he would be the last person on the planet to subscribe to hero worship, even our worship of his heroism. His whole message, it would seem to me, is that each of us can act at our level and in our context. I refuse to reduce him to an assassination. And it appalls me that ANY of the three candidates would try to get political traction out of the date of that assassination
for electoral gain.

As eloquent as Martin Luther King's speeches were, it's the man marching in the street for civil rights who was the true hero, whether his name was Martin or not.
And it worries me how vulnerable voters seems to be to rhetoric. It's not condescension but concern.