Bobby Kennedy anounces Martin Luther King's death, Indianapolic, IN 1968 (TEXT)

April 4, 1968, Indianapolis, IN

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.

• Category

  Education

[moishefriedman]

Thanks for posting. I get teary-eyed every time I hear this speech, and I've listened to it many times. There was simply no one like him in the last 50 years, and I mourn his loss, as I do MLK's. And I can't help myself but to play the "if only" game in my head, as useless as that is. If only they had survived. With RFK as President, MLK in a prominent active Civil Rights advocacy role, what a country this would have been... But again, thank you for posting this.

[nyall1976]

Truly sad and horribly tragic how America killed its own group of true game changers and now we languish in a dribble of what might have been a great storm of revolution! Sadly now and possibly forever we sit and wonder what might have been and what will be.

[Gavin Gill]

America had another chance with Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, but that was quickly silenced due to the media blackout. And the scariest part, is that most American's weren't even aware of it at the time. Many still aren't.

[kbootie56]

I was there that night 17th Broadway about a block from my home, I was 13 yrs old and attended school #101 yes I was in that crowd!!

[Mohammad Azzam]

"He died in the cause of that effort" how great is it to die fighting for a great cause that affects millions of people around the world, RIP MLK, RIP RFK, our world needs wise people like them.

[Mohammad Azzam]

"He died in the cause of that effort" how great is it to die fighting for a great cause that affects millions of people around the world, RIP MLK, RIP RFK, our world needs wise people like them.

[switchbuckle5th]

But if he'd genuinely known, or thought, it would happen he likely wouldn't have been running for president. He never could have predicted he'd meet his end in the way he did.

[tms6279]

Bobby never talked down to anybody. It's significant to note that Indianapolis was the only major city that did not experience rioting that night. Rest in Peace.

[Research0digo]

I disagree - he knew he was in the crosshairs because of the mob and the CIA. He was a GREAT Attorney General!!!

RIP.

[Research0digo]

Thank you uploader, for sharing this with us.

[Vishal Sathyan]

At that time, he never would have believed that he would be assassinated two months later, just like his dear elder brother John and also Mr. King.

[bbowjuju]

Would have been a great president