Robert F. Kennedy, 1925-1968

I really wish I could have lived to see him. More importantly, I wish I'd be living in a country where Robert Francis Kennedy had served two terms as President of the United States.

Richard Nixon's 6+ years were so disastrous for the country - many of the effects of Watergate are still being felt today in many ways - it's hard to even comprehend how different our country would be were it not for a madman named Sirhan Sirhan.

I'm only 36 years old, born during Nixon's first term in September 1971, but in my lifetime, I've never had the pleasure and inspiration of knowing a politician like Robert Kennedy. Barack Obama is probably the closest thing we've had in my lifetime.

I watch and read a great deal about Kennedy, and it seems as if my fascination isn't going to wane anytime soon. It's not that I'm in love with the Kennedy surname per se, it's that I have a tremendous amount of respect for what all three Kennedy brothers did and have done for our country in their political lives. Both President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy ultimately gave the ultimate sacrifice for trying to make a difference.

Specifically with RFK, after his brother was murdered in so public a manner, he easily could have said, "To hell with it, and to hell with this country." It's not like his family didn't have tens of millions of dollars for him to live off of, and really, who could have faulted him? He was crushed over his brother's death, and it was clear that the 1960s were a pretty risky time to be a politician. It's important to remember that at the time RFK was shot, 40 years ago today, his brother, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had already been murdered in the decade. Kennedy clearly knew the risks, yet he pushed on, determined to try and make a difference.

As Attytood noted today, perhaps Kennedy's most shining and courageous moment came on April 4, 1968, when he was due for an appearance in Indianapolis on the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated. When he arrived, he was told that his predominately African-American audience was not aware that King had been murdered just hours before. He courageously went on stage anyway, speaking off-the-cuff and from-the-heart about his own experience with losing a family member, and what American needed to do to move forward. Without a speech writer, teleprompter, or polls to figure out the most popular thing to say, here is a part of what he said to the audience that night:

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.

[Interrupted by applause]

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.

Below is audio of his speech - take a few minutes and listen to the words, emotion and raw power (and the audience's reaction) to his speech...

Many people, mostly Republicans and conservative blowhards on right-wing radio, love to vilify the youngest Kennedy brother, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who won't be with us much longer even with the best prognosis after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. It was Ted who eulogized his brother RFK in June of 1968 with these words:

My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

I cannot imagine what it's been like for Ted, seeing his three older brothers die (Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. in World War II), two of them murdered, yet he still has soldiered on, making many mistakes and even a tragic one, yet he has endured to become one of the most successful U.S. Senators in U.S. history. RFK's and JFK's legacies are alive with Ted Kennedy.

It's my hope that Barack Obama can deliver the sort of hope to generations of Americans that Robert did to America during the spring of 1968 before the tragic events at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Kennedy as he uttered the last public words of his life: "Thank you, now it's on to Chicago, and let's win there."

Rest in peace, RFK. You are gone, but not forgotten, and you never will be.

Remembering America's civil rights King

There are lots of moving tributes today of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee 40 years ago today by James Earl Ray. (Above, MLK's daughter Bernice King spoke at an event last year commemorating her father. [Photo from Newsweek])

I guess I might be misguided, but I do find it a bit distasteful that important people in American history who were assassinated are remembered the day they were killed. I know that we must always remember that King was murdered, but I find commemorations of assassinations just a bit distasteful - be it King or any of the Kennedys, etc. My point is that there was so much more to Martin Luther King Jr. than his assassination - I prefer to remember him on Martin Luther King Jr. Day - the national holiday.

I love listening to King speak - I could listen to his speeches all day long. The argument could easily be made that King is one of the finest public speakers in American history, standing along side any president we've ever had.

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but when it comes to King, I'm a believer that our government had something to do with his murder. King was killed during one of the must tumultuous years in American history, and some feared that there could be a bona-fide revolution to overthrow our government. Others feared that the civil rights movement was behind much of the unrest. The argument certainly is plausible - considering some of the events in that past that our government has been tied to, I find it believable.

Just like President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, I wonder what America would have been liked had King lived. I'm sure we would be living in a very different country right now, and for the better.

In April of '68, King went to Memphis to address the striking black sanitation workers who had walked off the job over unequal pay to whites. I still get goosebumps when I hear King say the following words in this final speech, just hours before his murder, given to a congregation of about 3,000:

And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

The next day, at 6:01 p.m., he was gunned down - dead at 39 years old.

Since everything is political, it's important to note that Martin Luther King Jr., 40 years after his death, remains an intense political topic.

Senator John McCain (as did many Repubes, including then Congressman Dick Cheney) voted against a national holiday in the early 1980s - an inexcusable disgrace. (Another inconvenient truth - Reagan, the G-O-D of the GOP, was also initially opposed to such a holiday.) Today, McCain tried to make amends at the Lorraine Motel where King was shot (which is now the national civil rights museum).

Interesting to hear people boo him, no doubt for his opposition to the King federal holiday. I find it pretty convenient that he's sorry now that he's running for president. Keep in mind that McCain cast that vote when he was about 50 years old.

I also never tire of pointing out hypocrisy. Repubes the world over make great sport of pointing out that Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) was once a member of the KKK - a move he has often and repeatedly expressed great regret over. It's important to note that Byrd was in that organization decades ago, and has very publicly denounced the organization - long before he stood to gain from such denunciations. Not so with McCain.

One great American

AP Photo/Eric Paul Zamora

I didn't know this, but Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is one of only four people in the United States who have holidays all to themselves, along with George Washington, Christopher Columbus and Jesus Christ.

It's a fitting and a special honor that should be rare. But, without question, King is deserving of the distinction.

Above, Arianna Yanez, 8, holds a portrait of MLK during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in downtown Fresno, Calif., earlier today. Just imagine how unlikely that picture would have been just 50 short years ago - a white child holding a portrait of an African-American who was awarded a national holiday. It speaks a great deal to the progress we've made on race in America, but we have a long way to go, too.

AP Photo/Jerry Lara

Faron Lockridge carries the flag during the Martin Luther King march in San Antonio, Texas, earlier today.

Today, as I saw lots of tributes to King on TV, I thought back to one of his speeches that I read in college, Letter from Birmingham Jail. He wrote it in response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen on April 12, 1963 titled "A Call For Unity," which agreed that social injustices were happening, but they believed the struggle against segregation should be fought in the courts not, the streets.

King wrote it while in jail in the city of Birmingham. It's a remarkable piece of work - if you haven't read it (or even if you have), I highly recommend it. It really captures the essence of what King stood for as a pioneer during the Civil Rights Movement.

Today also got me to thinking, shouldn't we have a separate way to commemorate two people who are connected to King, and not how they would like.

Is there some way we could honor Vice President Dick Cheney (right), who voted against the creation of a holiday for King in 1979, but then voted for it in 1983. (Wait, let's modify a quote Republicans loved to use against John Kerry in 2004: "First I voted against the holiday before I voted for it.") I won't even get started on Cheney's spotty record on civil rights while in Congress -- a that's a topic for another blog posting at another time.

How about Evan Mecham (left), the former Republican governor of Arizona, who was impeached, in part for cancelling a paid MLK Day holiday for state employees shortly after his inauguration.

I suppose we could even throw in President Reagan's opposition to the holiday, too. He was opposed to the holiday until it was passed by Congress with a veto-proof majority in 1983. He then signed it into law.

Kind of makes you laugh when you consider President Bush's remarks that Democrats haven't earned African-Americans' votes, huh?

Anyway, this is a day to remember King, but also a day to remember those who opposed him, and also those who were opposed to creating the holiday in the first place.

I'm thankful that more intelligent heads prevailed in Washington, and our government decided to rightfully honor one of the greatest Americans in history.