Doc of the Day: Robert F. Kennedy’s Remarks on the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

04/04/10

On April 4, 1968, as presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy arrived at a campaign rally in urban Indianapolis, he learned that civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot and killed earlier that evening. Against the advice of local police, Kennedy stepped onto the platform and broke the news to the assembled crowd, which consisted mostly of African Americans.

In his brief remarks on the death of King, Kennedy encouraged people to set aside feelings of anger, bitterness, and hatred and to instead pursue King’s goals of understanding, compassion, and love. “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,” he declared, “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.” Tragically, Kennedy himself was assassinated two months later.

Read ROBERT F. KENNEDY’S REMARKS ON THE DEATH OF MARTIN LUTHER KING

See more News >