I had 4 heroes on April 3, 1968, my 8th birthday: Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.
When a kid that young loses half his heroes, it's pretty awful. I grew harder that year, much faster than I otherwise would have, no doubt. But, more importantly, and far sadder: America hasn't been what we would have been today if MLK and Bobby K hadn't been snatched away from us. Imagine Martin continuing to lead from his fiery but ever peaceful pulpit all these years. Imagine Bobby, not Nixon, winning the presidency in '68 and again in '72. When King and Kennedy were both taken away in such a short time, it seemed like the world would end. And whole worlds of possibilities did, indeed, end.
Forty years later, America has a chance to restore some of what was taken from us. From the first time I saw Barack Obama speak, a man who lost half his heroes in '68 saw nothing less than a cross between Martin and Bobby. Call me corny. Call me crazy. Call me naive. But some of the world's better history has been steered by idealistic leaders who inspire people to better than they otherwise are. Barack Obama's candidacy is an historic opportunity to turn this country toward the more fair, humane and admirable direction it would have gone in 1968 if we had not been tragically interrupted on our way to making a better place named America.
"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," -Hillary Clinton
It’s easy to give Senator Hillary Clinton the benefit of the doubt regarding her confused reference to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Easy, but dangerously naïve. Easy because conscience demands resilience against the inevitability of human nature to err. Dangerously naïve because malice aforethought is hardly dismissable given the vitriolic energy of this primary campaign. The easy way out leads us to the remaining contests of the primary season and on to the serious work in advance of November. To forget is not yet to forgive, however, because this is May. The comments still reverberate with a lasting turbulence. In the event of the unmentionable, the Senator’s comments could conceivably form the basis of an FBI investigation.
This is a nation of mental diversity. The mix, in general is a good idea for the world, but it includes psychological profiles capable of acting out of suggestion, serving ends conceived in delusion. Even conclusions drawn in minds more sane and intellectually sound could act upon the motivational force nested within such irresponsible observations. More overt results could truly render her remarks far less benign than the excuses of fatigue and misspeak seek to characterize them. If such explanations are to be held as sufficient to clean up the mess, then we have to consider what kind of administration she would run given her vulnerability to the pressures of the job.
Giving Mrs. Clinton the benefit of the doubt could be the least deserving action called for by her statements. It was a dangerous and threatening pander to the worst of potential strategies designed to win the nomination for her. An official reprimand would serve only to raise the profile of the comments and impede their inevitable fade from the sound bytes of media intrusion into the public mentality. It could be best for the continued safety of Senator Obama to let the matter disappear. The Obama campaign wisely used the term, "unfortunate" and moved on. For now, this is the best course of action.
RWH 5-26-08
How Hillary has crossed them and how Barack is bridging them, Jennifer's take on lines in the sand in this Democratic primary campaign might push a few of your own boundaries. She discusses Hillary's recent gaffe in the context of addiction, power & control, and the Clinton marriage. Hillary doesn't represent her. Obama offers real hope and will bring prosperity to America, she says. Listen to this episode...48:39 min.
It's about time the media slammed Senator Clinton for her disgraceful remarks about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, and the veiled implication that anything can still happen...it's only June. This is not the first time she has made this comment and yet I have tried to give her the benefit of the doubt; but the insensitivity and inappropriatness of her repeated comments leads me to belive what others have always thought of her: "she will do anything, and say anything to get elected."
It's reprehensible for a candidate to use the word"assassination" in any political exchange, debate, interview, etc. As if it wasn't bad enough that Governor Huckabee's so called joke at the NRA last week was glossed over by the press, what ever possessed Senator Clinton to pile on and engage in such rhetoric. The fact that we have for the first time in our history a viable African American candidate who has already had death threats against him is reason enough to NEVER use that language in the public square. What was she thinking???? Has she totally lost it??? Has her desperation clouded her judgement and common sense???
But the worst part of this whole saga is that the so-called apology was to the Kennedy family, as if the Kennedy's had never heard a reference before to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. I think the press has totally missed the point on this. She does not owe the Kennedy's an apology for referencing that tragic event, which unfortunatley is now part of presidential campaign history. Instead, she owes Senator Obama an apology. She of all people should realize there are a lot of sick bigots and nut cases out there who do not need much coaxing to push them over the edge.
.This last desperate attempt to justify her remaining in the race is something that will remain a part of her political and professional legacy, not to mention her reputation in the African American community is surely permanently damaged. I don't see anyway she can, or should be forgiven. She has finally gone too far.
If you haven’t witness Barack Obama get beat up by Hillary Clinton in the Democratic debates this entire 2008 election season, yet as the debate ended, watch Sen. Obama get up and pull out Hillary’s seat for her; if you haven’t seen him get blasted by her and her campaign managers throughout the whole campaign; witness her husband, herself and her campaign staff make repeated nasty attacks and negative blunders…then hear him write them all off as being just things that are said during campaigns (think, his famous “this is silly season” quote); if you haven’t read the headlines and seen the youtube videos with smear-tactics that make Karl Rove and the Bush Dynassty jealous, played over and over again and watch the reactions of the American people…then watched his his brilliant reactions; if you haven’t witness the Democratic Candidate Barack Obama transform into a Super Duck and just allow all the mud to just roll off his back time and time again…
Then you and I have been tuning in to 2 different channels (figuratively speaking).
This man is a true mentor, if for no other reason, a mentor for all men to learn from. To be a man under such pressure. Pressure beyond the average person, and still well beyond the other candidates as well. But to still be so present in each moment; to not ignore your challenges before you; to engage yourself in necessary dialogue, but to definitely not let it affect your core in a way that harms you. It’s a lesson for me. And no one has demonstrated it better than Obama. In a way, if I can say this, I believe Barack Obama is somewhat of a Sage.
I believe that the along with the political leaders of the World, the SPIRITUAL leaders are all also curiously watching this man Barack Obama.
That said, I still am floored every time I see it. Case in point…today. After Hillary Clinton’s apparent “oops” statement of the week, which is possibly the worst mistake a politician has EVER made. When Hillary Clinton brought up that she will not leave the race, partly because of the fact that RFK was assassinated in June. A statement that hits way too close to home for the American people. She then comes out and makes a weak apology to try to appease those who “may have been offended” (just about EVERYBODY was offended, lady).
But here’s Obama: “I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Sen. Clinton and I have been campaigning,” he told the Puerto Rico radio station Isla, “sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make. And I think that is what happened here.
“Sen. Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it,” he added, “and I would take her at her word on that.”
Wow.
Do you realize where he could have taken that instead?
I’ll remind everyone that when Sen. Obama’s back was up against the wall, back when he was put under major scrutiny because of his ex-Pastor’s words (no doubt, most likely initiated by the Clinton campaign); when the media was tearing him apart over a non-issue, something that had not a single connection to Barack Obama himself, his policies and his true love for his country. You know, when if a time like that would have happened the other way around, someone like Obama would have said, “Look, let’s get back to the issues”. Uh-uh, no…Hillary Clinton, gave her strong opinion on the matter, instead, cahing in on the moment (because God knows she can’t talk about policy) that she would not have stayed with her pastor if it were her. She certainly did not attempt to stop the media, let alone speak of any praise for Obama. She allowed it to happen. Thanks, Hillary.
That, my friend, is the difference between the 2 candidates. I’m afraid to tell all the critics who believe that he’s too much of a gentleman, that Obama has a secret weapon. His kindness is the most powerful weapon. And today’s politicians are not well-prepared for it.
Hi! If you enjoy my posts, please see my blog at http://freshfunkdesigns.com/blog
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According to ABCNews.com:
"Clinton said that perhaps people are forgetting that there were other candidates in the past who were finishing a distant second and who went all the way to the convention. "I rememeber very well 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992," she said...."People have been tyring to push me out of this ever since Iowa," Clinton continued."Why?" the reporter asked.
"I don't know. I don't know. I find it curious. Because it is unprecedented in history. I don't understand it. Between my opponent and some in the media there has been this urgency to end this. And historically, that makes no sense. So I find it a bit of a mystery," Clinton responded.
In addition to this, Clinton said she'd stay in because her husband did so and you never know what could happen--and besides Bobby Kennedy was still campaigining and won in June.
Now--I'll be honest--I despise Hillary Clinton. I'd really rather see the mouldering corpse of Andrew Johnson as president than see her in office.
BUT...again, she's wrong on her history.
Regarding some of the years she mentioned...in 1980, there was no long primary campaign. Jimmy Carter was a sitting president and was renominated. Maybe she meant the Republicans?? Nah..Reagan locked it up early based on his strong showing in 76. What about 84? No--that was decided pretty quickly once a couple scandals weeded things out--resulting in Mondale's nomination. Of course, Hillary doesn't want to go back farther because the Democratic Party had a couple of bitter conventions/primary seasons in 68 and 72 where there was a fight over candidacies that split the party and gave Nixon easy wins (though I think he would've won anyway--since the Democrats were blamed for Viet Nam). Parties with protracted struggles never do well in elections--which would be rather funny given the pathetic state of the Republican Party (I hope the GOP will get slaughtered so that the neo-cons and radical right-wingers can be purged...but I fear this will not happen)
And worse...Hillary mentions Robert Kennedy, 1968, and California--and why she should still campaign. Gee, what could've happened there in CA? Oh wait, that's right--Robert Kennedy gets shot and killed there, making sure the nomination goes to the other candidate who was still in it at that point. Hmmm...are there racists and whack-jobs out there who could get an odd thought from that? "Hey, if I off the black guy, I can do my country some good." I would never have thought this nation would have a politician -FROM EITHER MAJOR PARTY- who would stoop this low. And not for a second do I believe this was a mis-statement. There have been too many other 'mis-statements' by her and her campaign..."He's not Muslim...not that we know of." "He won here...just like Jesse Jackson did", etc.
So, as always, here's hoping to McCain vs. Obama in '08. Hopefully the Democratic super-delegates will get off their tookuses soon.
Hillary Clinton today has crossed a line that should NEVER be crossed.
Her comments about staying in the race because Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June of “68, implying that the same could happen again, are beyond the bounds of what should be tolerated in American Politics’.
Is this her private hope? That some extremist will present her with an opportunity to win the Democratic Nomination while robbing the country of an inspirational leader who just might be able to turn us around. Her attempts to divide this country along racial lines have been nauseating. This, latest in her desperate attempt to remain relevant, is despicable.
As Americans we need to cry out in a unified voice that this kind of politics is unacceptable. I have written Harry Reid, my Senator, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and Tim Russet, the TV Journalist that I most respect, stating unequivocally that this is NOT what I expect from a presidential candidate, or anyone for that matter.
It is time that Ms. Clinton step down, apologise for her behavior, and allow our party and our country to move forward to a day when words such as hers are not tolerated in any circle.
This is what Hillary Clinton said today in an interview to justify her staying in the race.
Unless I am very dense, what she is implying is that she is staying in the race in the event that Obama is assassinated, like Bobby Kennedy. It is almost as though, and I hesitate to say this, that she is waiting for this to happen, so that she can become the nominee.
Whether it was a slip of the tongue or not, I think it shows a candidate who needs to withdraw from the race.
Robert F. Kennedy made this speech to the young people of South Africa on their Day of Affirmation in 1966. My support for Barack Obama in this speech sums it up the best,
"There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember -- even if only for a time -- that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek -- as we do -- nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can. Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men. And surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again. The answer is to rely on youth -- not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to the obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. They cannot be moved by those who cling to a present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress. It is a revolutionary world we live in, and this generation at home and around the world has had thrust upon it a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived. Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation; a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth; a young woman reclaimed the territory of France; and it was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the 32 year-old Thomas Jefferson who [pro]claimed that "all men are created equal." These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe. For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. All of us will ultimately be judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that event. *The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society. Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine our destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can live." We are One Nation, One Voice, United as Democrats, Republicans, Independents, to those states that are still waiting to cast your votes I ask you to support Senator Barack Obama in his journey to the White House.
"There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember -- even if only for a time -- that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek -- as we do -- nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men. And surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again. The answer is to rely on youth -- not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to the obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. They cannot be moved by those who cling to a present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress.
It is a revolutionary world we live in, and this generation at home and around the world has had thrust upon it a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived. Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation; a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth; a young woman reclaimed the territory of France; and it was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the 32 year-old Thomas Jefferson who [pro]claimed that "all men are created equal."
These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe.
For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. All of us will ultimately be judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that event.
*The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society. Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine our destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can live." We are One Nation, One Voice, United as Democrats, Republicans, Independents, to those states that are still waiting to cast your votes I ask you to support Senator Barack Obama in his journey to the White House.
"Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."
DesertDoveDan remembers growing up in California, how Bobby Kennedy's assassination figured big in his childhood consciousness, & what it means to invest hope in an Obama presidency. He sees how political process could be different...
Listen to this episode of Interview4Obama...
Hillary Can't Win Indiana/Hillary Can't Win North Carolina
If you have not heard Bobby Kennedy's "Mindless Menace of Violence" speech, it can be heard here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8vm6AsZw40&feature=related
It can also be downloaded from iTunes.
It is the speech given by RFK on April 5 - the day after the assassination - in Cleveland.
His first words "It is not a day for politics." Still appropriate in many ways. I trust the judgement of Senator Obama to be in Indiana on this day. I am looking forward to hearing his message.
Hi folks,
My Step Father is here today, he was in Selma and much more before that. Rev. Karl Lutze began his civil rights work in 1945, organized many of the voter registration efforts in the south and did so many more things I can't list them. He still does.
Karl still lives across the street from Valpraiso University, still writes, still speaks and is still a part of all that legacy. It's always strange for me, because he is just Karl - the wonderful man who makes my mom and my children happy. But when we talk about all of this it is hard to imagine and hard to forget that he has bridged the gap between where we were and where we are.
When Karl Lutze arrived in Oklahoma in 1945, he stepped into another world. A newly ordained clergyman born in Wisconsin, he was a young white man assigned to minister among Muskogee’s African American community. He soon found that in the South, crosses were as likely to be burned as revered. His recollections of postwar Oklahoma provide a compelling testament to the era’s racial conflict and some steps taken toward its resolution. Awakening to Equality offers a unique perspective on an often-violent era that witnessed the gradual dismantling of segregation. Serving congregations in Muskogee and Tulsa, Lutze encountered a cross section of both communities—from the white and black power brokers to the most disempowered black and biracial families—and a stratified society buttressed by intimidation, cross burnings, and bombs. His activism in the Urban League and other local civil rights organizations gave him firsthand experience with forces moving toward change, as well as with the more entrenched forces resisting it. Blending personal anecdotes and recollections of key players in this unfolding drama, Lutze puts a human face on historical and journalistic accounts of social change during the crucial early years of the civil rights movement. He takes readers back to small-town and urban Oklahoma in a time when African Americans were beginning to challenge segregation in Muskogee’s public transportation and a handful of liberal whites were trying to move their communities toward desegregation. Throughout this rich memoir, we meet actual people creating a future—one that involved the very redefinition of America. More than a view of an earnest young clergyman trying to grow beyond the racial and social limitations of the church of his day, Awakening to Equality also depicts the struggles of Lutze’s own denomination to overcome its earlier accommodation of racism. Lutze’s success in his ministries made his achievements a model for mission work among African Americans and led to his appointment in 1959 first as field secretary and then shortly thereafter as executive director of the Lutheran Human Relations Association, a pioneering civil rights organization. Simultaneously, he taught classes as Associate Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University. Lutze not only witnessed important events but also participated in them and found that his entire career was shaped by the experience. Awakening to Equality is a moving story that captures the real-life education of a prominent clergyman during a critical period in American life.
When Karl Lutze arrived in Oklahoma in 1945, he stepped into another world. A newly ordained clergyman born in Wisconsin, he was a young white man assigned to minister among Muskogee’s African American community. He soon found that in the South, crosses were as likely to be burned as revered. His recollections of postwar Oklahoma provide a compelling testament to the era’s racial conflict and some steps taken toward its resolution.
Awakening to Equality offers a unique perspective on an often-violent era that witnessed the gradual dismantling of segregation. Serving congregations in Muskogee and Tulsa, Lutze encountered a cross section of both communities—from the white and black power brokers to the most disempowered black and biracial families—and a stratified society buttressed by intimidation, cross burnings, and bombs. His activism in the Urban League and other local civil rights organizations gave him firsthand experience with forces moving toward change, as well as with the more entrenched forces resisting it.
Blending personal anecdotes and recollections of key players in this unfolding drama, Lutze puts a human face on historical and journalistic accounts of social change during the crucial early years of the civil rights movement. He takes readers back to small-town and urban Oklahoma in a time when African Americans were beginning to challenge segregation in Muskogee’s public transportation and a handful of liberal whites were trying to move their communities toward desegregation. Throughout this rich memoir, we meet actual people creating a future—one that involved the very redefinition of America.
More than a view of an earnest young clergyman trying to grow beyond the racial and social limitations of the church of his day, Awakening to Equality also depicts the struggles of Lutze’s own denomination to overcome its earlier accommodation of racism. Lutze’s success in his ministries made his achievements a model for mission work among African Americans and led to his appointment in 1959 first as field secretary and then shortly thereafter as executive director of the Lutheran Human Relations Association, a pioneering civil rights organization. Simultaneously, he taught classes as Associate Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University.
Lutze not only witnessed important events but also participated in them and found that his entire career was shaped by the experience. Awakening to Equality is a moving story that captures the real-life education of a prominent clergyman during a critical period in American life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCg05pTYt0A Bobby Kennedy, April 4, 1968
Seeing that video sitting here in Key West, Karl sleeping upstairs, all the current foolishness being said in today's media, the amazing speech Senator Obama gave that I watched again with my brother last night... It's hard to comprehend the magnitude of where we have come from, hard sometimes to reconcile where we are, and impossible to allow us to not go to where this all leads.
Recently I do and say a lot of things because I want us to get there, and part of it is helping Barack Obama become president. Not because I care that he's black but because I don't care and I'd rather no-one else would, either. I don't want my children to even think about such things. He's an immensely qualified man and the fact that it is even mentioned shows that the ice hasn't melted entirely. Not just yet.
So if the price we pay today is a scrimish of words to chuff the last of the ice off the windshield it's so very worth it, and it's nothing at all to do.
It's nothing compared to the price Bobby paid, or his brother. Nothing compared to what Dr. King paid.
Sleep well, Karl. I've got the torch.
-chris
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/4/14316/24086/227/489961
I cannot let this 40th anniversary of the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pass without telling you my personal story -- For I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana at the time. I was a teenager, and I'll never forget how I felt that awful moment when I first heard the terrible news. And I'll never forget watching Bobby Kennedy, on black and white TV, break the news of Dr. King's death. In my mind, that moment remains one of those singular moments that transcends space and time, and the words that Bobby Kennedy spoke bear retelling here, for I do believe in my heart that he prevented the city of Indianapolis from going up in smoke that fateful night.
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
I hope that all Obama supporters who have never read or heard these words, especially the young people, who have come to embrace this campaign, will pledge to do good in honor of Dr. King, and live the kinds of lives that mirror the spirit of humanity that Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy so exemplified.
I think to understand the Obama campaign, one must truly see and hear the foundations upon which it is built. This campaign, its message and its success are not new; they died 40 years ago at the Ambassador Hotel. It's a bleak statement and rash generalization, but take a half hour and listen to Bobby Kennedy speak and I think you'll see better why America is so ready for this movement.
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Bobby Kennedy, University of Cape Town, South Africa (1966)
Right now, we are a crucial point in this campaign on issues that have always divided us, have always been misunderstood, but have also been confronted before with success.
To think that race would not be a part of this campaign is to think that the civil rights movement was won and is over, that the millions of people who lived through that divisiveness have moved on and past. But of course the civil rights movement never ended but expanded to represent the true diversity of this country, which in many ways drowned out its fundamental message, hope and understanding. Many of those who lived through the 1960s find that experience to be fundamental to how they define themselves and how they view the world.
In short, this country remains divided, but less so. One of the big reasons for that was Bobby Kennedy, a man who, like Archimedes, lived by the words "Give me a place to stand and I will move the world." (BK Cape Town, 1966). The message then, as it is now, was that empowered individuals who hope for a better future and are willing to work for it through learning and understanding and teaching can build that future that they dream of.
For a brief campaign in a now idealized time, Bobby Kennedy brought this message to America. If you want a snapshot of this time, take a look at this video from his California campaign: Bobby Kennedy - Fearless
Bobby Kennedy was a giant, a one in a million intellect, a man of honesty, and a man who devoted himself to the betterment of others. I believe he developed from his brother the foundation of all great politicians, courage. He was a man who could quote Aeschylus from memory to a large crowd, black and white, after telling them that Dr. King had been assassinated: "And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." He was a man who traveled to South Africa in 1966, spoke with the people and spoke out against Apartheid and oppression.
But his message was always about hope. That was what he told the black South Africans under the oppression of Apartheid; hope and understanding. Bobby Kennedy's hope was the exact opposite of how hope often gets characterized; it was active. He defined it; "these men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in isolated villages and city slums in dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped." (BK, Cape Town 1966)
If you want to hear the entire Cape Town Speech, it's available on this website: http://www.rfksa.org/
Bobby Kennedy understood race in America better than any politician before or since. He was able to speak about it directly, confronting injustice while promoting understanding. He was able to get people of all walks of life to listen and think, something politicians ask us to do less and less.
With Senator Obama's campaign, Bobby Kennedy's movement continues and grows. But with that momentum and empowerment comes responsibility; responsibility to understand our past and our roots, responsibility to listen to each other and think for ourselves, and responsibility to ask more of ourselves than we ask of others.
It is a lot to live up to, but it is and has always been that core idealistic premise behind our entire nation, that a group of us can get together, work hard, learn, teach, struggle and change the world. It comes down to that; that's why we hope. It's why our hope is not naive.
Finally, we must also remember that while many people came away from the 1960s fearful and divided, others learned and built upon that time. There are many voices out there who can speak about race and division and overcoming the hurdles that confront us; chief among them is Sen. Ted Kennedy. I know because I've heard him do it in one of my favorite speeches of all time, his Eulogy of Bobby Kennedy. I hope we hear from him soon.
On the other hand, participating in the process makes all the difference.
Believe it or not, that's the first thought that popped into my head this morning, when I remembered the 100+ calls I promised myself that I'd make on behalf of the campaign today.
Not that long ago, I'd have resented that prospect (in fact, I'd have resisted the whole concept) at my core: forcing myself to "bother" people by phone on behalf of a political campaign. It would've seemed too much like being an unpaid telemarketer, I would have assumed at the time.
And everybody knows that everybody hates telemarketers, paid or not.
But something funny happened to me on my way to the phone this morning.
It started about a week before the February 5th Arizona primary, in fact: way back when (at least it seems way back when, now) a month or so ago: I attended a Barack Obama rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix with my daughter Sara—and 14,000 or so of our now-close, like-minded friends that we hadn't yet met.
Then, in between explaining to Sara how and why the excitement generated by Barack's campaign reminds me of nothing so much as Bobby Kennedy's 1968 campaign, I realized that this campaign is fueled by the same faith — that we really can make a difference in determining the direction and destiny of our country And it asks each of us the very same question: Will we?
That was approximately the same moment that I remembered something that once seemed both crucial and obvious — but which I somehow managed to forget (or stopped wanting to remember) amid the disappointment and disillusionment I felt following the assassinations of both Martin and Bobby: That truly answering that question requires something more of us all than simply voting.
It always starts with (and centers around) hope, as Barack reminds us, but it also requires as much commitment and participation as each of us can create and sustain as citizen-subjects in the most noble political experiment ever attempted in this world: the democratic process.
That's why I started this blog with a statement that may seem to many to be such an heretical proposition — especially in the context of this reawakened citizen-activist's first blog entry at www.BarackObama.com.
Still, I hope, at least, it helps explain why I’m here and why I’m writing this — and why I need to stop writing, PDQ: Because my single vote in Arizona on February 5th really didn’t make that much difference.
On the other hand, the canvassing I did — door-to-door in my neighborhood and others, in the days after the Phoenix rally and before the Arizona primary — talking to voters, did make a difference, and a bigger one, at that.
And the calls I’ve made since, as one citizen-participant in this still-noble experiment of democracy to hundreds of my fellow citizens, has made an even bigger difference, still.
Which reminds me: I’ve got calls to make — in Rhode Island and Ohio and Texas and Vermont — while there's still time and still a difference to be made.
In fact, if you’d like to join me — and few hundred or thousand people like me — please feel free to do that.
After all, there literally are millions of people waiting to be reminded that yes, we can make it to the mountaintop — and it's still not too late to seek (and help shape) a newer, better world.
