Bobby Kennedy On the Death of MLK-1968

Bobby Kennedy Speech on the Death of Martin Luther King in 1968

Bobby Kennedy, the brother of the assassinated President, and, at the time of this speech, himself the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, gave a heart-felt speech in Indianapolis the night of Martin Luther King’s murder.

In this speech, Kennedy called for healing and understanding.  He also publicly referenced his brother’s death five years earlier, a topic that he had avoided discussing publicly. 

Historically speaking, the late 1960s, especially 1968, was a very violent, divisive time in American history.  Looking back from the vantage point of July, 2016, it can arguably be said that the summer of 2016 is probably the most violently divisive time in the U.S. since 1968.  With that in mind, the gentle words of Bobby Kennedy, who himself would be shot and killed only two months later, are appropriate for these troubled times.

Below is the text of Bobby Kennedy’s remarks following the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King — yeah, it’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, but we — 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.

And let’s 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.

Bobby Kennedy, who most likely would have been the Democratic candidate in that year’s election, is considered to have been a very likely winner of the election, and probably would have been president instead of Richard Nixon, the eventual winner of the 1968 election.  History would have been quite different.  Bobby Kennedy’s speech that warm summer night in 1968, calling for peace, love, and understanding,  is as applicable today, as it was then.

Below is the video of Bobby Kennedy’s speech that night, April 4, 1968.