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A profound speech: (Original Post)
George II
Jun 2019
OP
msongs
(67,420 posts)1. gee it turns out there is really more than one profound speech since mlk after all nt
sheshe2
(83,791 posts)3. Here is the text, George.
"In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is 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 there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.
"Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.
"For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I 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 go beyond these rather difficult times.
"My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "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 or lawlessness; but 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 they be black.
"So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, 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; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.
"Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.
"For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I 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 go beyond these rather difficult times.
"My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "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 or lawlessness; but 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 they be black.
"So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, 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; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/03/30/robert-f-kennedys-full-speech-indianapolis-martin-luther-king-jr-s-assassination/474252002/
Thanks, George. An inspirational speech by Bobby. Moving and a sad reminder that he too was taken from us far to soon.
I posted the whole text as the link may be behind a paywall for some.
George II
(67,782 posts)6. Thank you. One of those nights that we "old timers" will never forget.
sheshe2
(83,791 posts)7. That's the truth.
Me.
(35,454 posts)4. THat Speech Gives Me Shivers Every Time I Hear It
mcar
(42,334 posts)5. Thank you, George, for reminding us
of these inspiring and profound speeches.
Gothmog
(145,321 posts)8. That is another truly great speech