Mindless Menace Of Violence

On April 5, 1968 at the City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
Robert F. Kennedy gave a powerfull
and moving speech which i have
reanacted over various pictures of
violence/war/terror/race riots ect.

I have changed some of the words to
make it more global.

~~~ Mindless Menace Of Violence ~~~
It is not a day for politics. I have saved this one opportunity, my only event of today, to speak briefly to you about the mindless menace of violence in our world today, which again stains our earth and every one of our lives.

It is not the concern of any one race. The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one - no matter where he lives or what he does - can be certain whom next will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed.
And yet it goes on and on and on in this world of ours.

Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created?

Whenever any human life is taken by another human unnecessarily - whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence - whenever we tear at the fabric of the lives which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, Whenever we do this then the whole world is degraded.

Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike.

Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of other human beings.

but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our souls.

For when you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his colour or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subju gated and to be mastered.

We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, allien men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in a common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force.

Our lives on this planet are too short, The work to be done is too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in this land of ours. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a resolution.

But we can perhaps remember, 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 do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment that they can.

Surely, this bond of common fate, surely this bond of common goals, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at the least, to look around at those of us of our fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our hearts brothers and countrymen once again.

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• gibbo1988

[ScotmanUK2000]

Doesnt have the same effect as the original. I think its the music in the background!  May as well put the Benny Hill tune on! lol

[ResponceOfGibbo1988]

Oh well i had a go lol

[canucker47]

An excellent and moving video!

[toxictemper]

you are amazing!

[History2361]

Awesome Speech and incredible to listen to. Hey not sure if you all know this but there is a new book coming out in April about this speech. It is published through Hamilton Books and is called, "The Mindless Menace of Violence: Robert F. Kennedy's Vision and the Fierce Urgency of Now." Sounds interesting.

[ScotmanUK2000]

Lol. Yeah, you actually did quite well. I just think you need better back ground music, and more energy in your voice. Nice try though. I was having a wee joke, but not dig at your vid. Looking forward to more of your vids.

[monsterrun]

doubt is the killer. doubt cant get out of any positive wasy of thinking. doubt leads you to fear. then to much fear leads you to hate. to much hate make you become seeing every1 as your enemy. teror-rism.

while courage gets you over fear and leads you to the oposite ways. also have trust in yourself other wise you will lose courage and fall in doubt and here you go.

stand off for yourselves ppl.couragous and trustworthy ppl is what you need to be.

[wascman]

This is an excellent video with eloquent words from R.F.K. that ring true to this day.

[heartszacefron]

good job on this vid! loved it

[gibbo1988]

cheers canucker47

[gibbo1988]

Thankyou tropicalbirder