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This is a time of shame and sorrow. It is not a day for politics.
Last edited Sun Sep 29, 2013, 01:31 AM - Edit history (5)
EDIT to add link to the full speech, RFK, April 5, 1968, given the day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
http://www.vsotd.com/Article.php?art_num=4651
AND hat tip to Robb for his original post in the GCRA group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/12624998
http://www.vsotd.com/Article.php?art_num=4651
AND hat tip to Robb for his original post in the GCRA group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/12624998
Except as noted, the following words are those of Robert F. Kennedy:
[font size=3]"This is a time of shame and sorrow. 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 America which again stains our land 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 who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours."
"Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet."
"No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason."
"Whenever any American's life is taken by another American 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 life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded."
"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, "there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
"Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, 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 soul."
April 5, 1968 [/font size]
[font size=4]Wake up, America, to a new call for comprehensive measures to reduce violence in America. (NYC_SKP)[/font size]
115 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Better to pool our resources, no?
And he speaks to us still.
He was a man filled with keen vision and immense compassion, for
a better tomorrow, for everyone not just a few rich assholes.
His clear blue eyes said it all, when I shook his hand.
Just days, I guess, before that fateful day in LA, he made a stop at our local mall.
Even to my young self, it was devastating to have lost him so soon after King.
I don't know if our country will ever recover from the loss.
A very powerful message.
It's too bad that the folks who really need to see and hear this, won't.
I saw him on his campaign swing through California just a day or two before he was murdered.
RFK's most poignant speech on gun control, artfully re-edited to include no mention of guns.
Brilliant gun trollery. From a GD host, no less. Bra-vo. 
Edited to add: stalking me still? http://www.democraticunderground.com/12624998
But at least it's not a picture of Mila Kunis in a bikini, because that would be "sick" and deeply offensive 
How do you get that out of anything in the OP?
Well, it was probably for the best, as well as for the best to edit this OP. 
As it is, I'd much rather see a picture of Mila Kunis- or Brad Pitt, for that matter- than one of a shotgun. It seems I'm "sick" that way.
I thought it might have been something I did with a bikini pic.
I know what you mean, we have to be careful about posting provocative pictures of good looking people, I guess it's a weird form of tolerance. 
I'm with you.
Here's my favorite cheap thrills fight video played by a pair of felines. It has suspense, menace, all the prerequisites for drama.
There's sexual betrayal, unwanted pregnancy, vulgar language, a coward, a woman done wrong, hatred, vengeance, threats of violence and police, even.
I come down on the side of the female feline. Get that two timing scrub but good, GRRR!:
This has been another post from:
Good night all.
Some people can be absolutely shameless. 
Why did you repost this and selectively edit it?
Just a little tightening up here and there! You know those Kennedy brothers, they weren't good at public speaking. 
I mean, why would anyone care that in the speech he said
"... We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire."
What possible reason could he have to ....
...oh.
...oh, is that the Navy Yard shooter with a shotgun? Is it the same kind the OP praised what, two days after the Sandy Hook shootings?
In fairness, it's entirely possible the bodies of those children were technically (if not metaphorically) cold by then, so no foul, amirite??
Thanks for the link.
I had no idea. Honestly. Last thing I would've expected. I don't care if admin did decide to permit a free-for-all; we're still liable for our individual behavior regardless.
I told Skp he should've explained he was reposting Robb's work with his own revisions, and that it would've been better to have asked permission first as well. Perhaps he omitted that last point knowing permission would be refused, as I can well understand why. I actually liked his OP best but that's entirely beside the point - it never should've been done in the first place.
I had no idea. Honestly. Last thing I would've expected. I don't care if admin did decide to permit a free-for-all; we're still liable for our individual behavior regardless.
I told Skp he should've explained he was reposting Robb's work with his own revisions, and that it would've been better to have asked permission first as well. Perhaps he omitted that last point knowing permission would be refused, as I can well understand why. I actually liked his OP best but that's entirely beside the point - it never should've been done in the first place.
I think mine was an improvement, too. I don't think the pictures of gun nuts served RFK's words well, so I created my own mash up of RFK's speech, using most of the same pics rob used.
That's not theft, that's just adaptation and improvement over prior art. This happens all the time in the real world, and legally.
There is no ownership issue here, the words are RFK's.
Although passive-aggressiveness is not expressly forbidden in the SOP, so this is probably fine.
He posted in the GCRA closed group. I got rid of the pics of gun nuts and reposted it here in GD for full access.
The words are RFK's, the pics are from the Internet, everything is public domain.
But credit to Robb for his original OP! 
I just think they ought to be heard by more people, thus a new post in GD.
OP edited now to include attribution to RFK and to Robb's OP.
http://www.vsotd.com/Article.php?art_num=4651
What a total crap thing to do, lifting someone else's post, and "cleaning up" Bobby Kennedy's speech in order to shine a better light on your own position on guns.
You asked someone upthread if they were on board. My answer: not if I have to sit next to you.
You might like to check the two OPs.
What I did was leave out the pic of gun nuts and the pic of the DC shooter, no need to glorify either of them.
I also left out a line that Robb used that worked well for his picture of the shooter, that I didn't choose to use.
Instead, I provided a link to the ENTIRE speech, something I believe Robb failed to do.
Any excerpt would be selective, wouldn't it? Is one selection more legitimate than another?
Here:
This is a time of shame and sorrow. 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 America which again stains our land 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 who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.
Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.
No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.
Whenever any American's life is taken by another American 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 life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.
"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, "there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.
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 others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, 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 soul.
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.
I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color 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 subjugated and mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in 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. For all this, there are no final answers.
Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.
Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. 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 they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.v
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 who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.
Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.
No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.
Whenever any American's life is taken by another American 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 life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.
"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, "there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.
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 others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, 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 soul.
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.
I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color 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 subjugated and mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in 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. For all this, there are no final answers.
Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.
Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. 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 they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.v
From the same speech, the same day, April 5, 1968
"Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike.
We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands.
We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment.
We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire."
We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands.
We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment.
We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire."
Except that, today, we don't have to look so much to far-off lands for reports of civilian slaughter.
But good try.
Also the point of this OP seems to be getting lost with peronality conflicts here at DU.
You may want to edit again, making sure that neither yours, nor Robb's, excerpts are the primary language in this OP. But a full transcript with a link for people to verify it and get this thread back to where it belongs,
The issue is the insanity in our society. I remember some years back being struck with horror by this contrast, but no more. It is the truth of so many human failures, that we have to address:
The three children on the left still have the breath of life, barely, but they are alive. The entity on the right was never alive.
What is important, America? Will you deny what you are, can you continue to turn your eyes away from the tools of death in which you feel so much pride?
This that you wrote:
'..today, we don't have to look so much to far-off lands for reports of civilian slaughter.'
You have nailed the problem we are suffering from. Desiring the power to intimidate others, does not support civil society and democracy. It utterly destroys it from top to bottom.
I feel we are being punished. Not by foreign enemies or a vengeful creator. We are being punished by simply being what we are.
It was inevitable that a nation that based its security on deadly force, would experience the same.
JHMO.
If that was your hat, you must have to squat to brush your teeth.
This is the lowest you've sunk, gunner.
Last edited Sun Sep 29, 2013, 10:24 AM - Edit history (1)
Robert F. Kennedy is better known for his spontaneous speech delivered in Indianapolis on the day Martin Luther King was assassinated. Lesser known is this speech, given the day after, at the City Club of Cleveland, April 5, 1968. The text follows the video, below.
This is a time of shame and sorrow. 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 America which again stains our land 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 who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.
Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.
No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.
Whenever any American's life is taken by another American 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 life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.
"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, "there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.
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 others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, 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 soul.
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.
I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color 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 subjugated and mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in 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. For all this, there are no final answers.
Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.
Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. 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 they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.
http://www.vsotd.com/Article.php?art_num=4651
This is a time of shame and sorrow. 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 America which again stains our land 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 who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.
Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.
No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.
Whenever any American's life is taken by another American 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 life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.
"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, "there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.
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 others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, 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 soul.
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.
I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color 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 subjugated and mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in 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. For all this, there are no final answers.
Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.
Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. 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 they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.
http://www.vsotd.com/Article.php?art_num=4651
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy%27s_speech_on_the_assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.
Whereas this was given the following day, in Cleveland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Mindless_Menace_of_Violence
Both are very moving and the first brings tears to my eyes every time.
Whereas this was given the following day, in Cleveland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Mindless_Menace_of_Violence
Both are very moving and the first brings tears to my eyes every time.
.
During his speeches at Notre Dame and Ball State, Kennedy focused on domestic issues, the Vietnam War, and racism. At Notre Dame's Stepan Center, a crowd of approximately 5,000 heard Kennedy speak on poverty in America and the need for better-paying jobs. When asked about draft laws, Kennedy called them "unjust and inequitable" and argued to end college deferments on the basis that they discriminated against those who could not afford a college education. His speech at Ball State was well received by more than 9,000 students, faculty, and community members. One African-American student raised a question to Kennedy that seems almost a premonition of the speech to come later that night after the horrific events of the day. The student asked, “Your speech implies that you are placing a great deal of faith in white America. Is that faith justified?” Kennedy answered “Yes” and added that “faith in black America is justified, too” although he said there “are extremists on both sides.” Before boarding a plane to fly to Indianapolis, Kennedy learned that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot. On the plane, Kennedy told a reporter "You know, it grieves me. . . that I just told that kid this and then walk out and find that some white man has just shot their spiritual leader."[8] Kennedy did not learn that King was dead until his plane landed in Indianapolis. According to reporter John J. Lindsay, Kennedy "seemed to shrink back as though struck physically" and put his hands to his face, saying "Oh, God. When is this violence going to stop?"
In Indianapolis the news of King's death caused concern among representatives from Kennedy's campaign and city officials, who feared for his safety and the possibility of a riot. After talking with reporters at the Indianapolis airport, Kennedy canceled a stop at his campaign headquarters and continued on to the rally site, where a crowd had gathered to hear him speak. Both Frank Mankiewicz, Kennedy's press secretary, and speechwriter Adam Walinsky drafted notes immediately before the rally for Kennedy's use, but Kennedy refused Walinsky's notes, instead using some that he had likely written on the ride over; Mankiewicz arrived after Kennedy had already begun to speak. The Indianapolis chief of police warned Kennedy that the police could not provide adequate protection for the senator if the crowd were to riot, but Kennedy decided to go speak to the crowd regardless. Standing on a podium mounted on flatbed truck, Kennedy spoke for just four minutes and fifty-seven seconds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy%27s_speech_on_the_assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.#Earlier_that_day
In Indianapolis the news of King's death caused concern among representatives from Kennedy's campaign and city officials, who feared for his safety and the possibility of a riot. After talking with reporters at the Indianapolis airport, Kennedy canceled a stop at his campaign headquarters and continued on to the rally site, where a crowd had gathered to hear him speak. Both Frank Mankiewicz, Kennedy's press secretary, and speechwriter Adam Walinsky drafted notes immediately before the rally for Kennedy's use, but Kennedy refused Walinsky's notes, instead using some that he had likely written on the ride over; Mankiewicz arrived after Kennedy had already begun to speak. The Indianapolis chief of police warned Kennedy that the police could not provide adequate protection for the senator if the crowd were to riot, but Kennedy decided to go speak to the crowd regardless. Standing on a podium mounted on flatbed truck, Kennedy spoke for just four minutes and fifty-seven seconds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy%27s_speech_on_the_assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.#Earlier_that_day
But no, definitely NOT political
RL
Dated January 21, 2011, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend echoed her father's words:
ABC News’ Jason Ryan reports:
At an event commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s swearing-in as Attorney General, his eldest daughter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, made reference to the recent Tucson shooting and called for tighter gun control laws. Kennedy Townsend, who lost both her father and uncle to assassins’ bullets, said, “I believe that this department and this country have got to do a better job on gun regulation and on gun control and making our citizens safe. As my father said, we glorify killing on movies and on television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades and sanity to acquire weapons, and violence breeds violence. Repression brings retaliation, and only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.”
Legends of the civil rights movement, members of the Kennedy Family and current and former Justice Department officials gathered in the Great Hall at the Justice Department to remember RFK on the 50th anniversary of his arrival as Attorney General. The Justice Department released a trove of pictures from the archives honoring him as the 64th Attorney General of the United States. Find them HERE.
The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building in Washington bears his name. Today’s tribute reflected on the strides he made for civil rights in the United States.
Attorney General Eric Holder described his excitement watching the Kennedy brothers when he was a young boy, and how, years later, actions taken by RFK to integrate the University of Alabama touched his life.
more at the link: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/01/robert-f-kennedys-daughter-calls-for-tighter-gun-laws/
At an event commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s swearing-in as Attorney General, his eldest daughter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, made reference to the recent Tucson shooting and called for tighter gun control laws. Kennedy Townsend, who lost both her father and uncle to assassins’ bullets, said, “I believe that this department and this country have got to do a better job on gun regulation and on gun control and making our citizens safe. As my father said, we glorify killing on movies and on television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades and sanity to acquire weapons, and violence breeds violence. Repression brings retaliation, and only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.”
Legends of the civil rights movement, members of the Kennedy Family and current and former Justice Department officials gathered in the Great Hall at the Justice Department to remember RFK on the 50th anniversary of his arrival as Attorney General. The Justice Department released a trove of pictures from the archives honoring him as the 64th Attorney General of the United States. Find them HERE.
The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building in Washington bears his name. Today’s tribute reflected on the strides he made for civil rights in the United States.
Attorney General Eric Holder described his excitement watching the Kennedy brothers when he was a young boy, and how, years later, actions taken by RFK to integrate the University of Alabama touched his life.
more at the link: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/01/robert-f-kennedys-daughter-calls-for-tighter-gun-laws/
And what should have been.
There is a reason America is in trouble. Let's get to the root causes of this. It won't be a pleasant process, but the pain cannot be escaped.
Larry Lessig is perhaps the greatest advocate of net neutrality and open creativity.
Many if not all of his works are free to use, I read his book Free Culture, available for free here: http://www.free-culture.cc/
I also strongly recommend a documentary titled, "RiP: A Remix Manifesto": http://www.hulu.com/watch/88782 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1397511/
Trailer:
I recommend these because they speak to the inanity of "intellectual property" and the way corporations have stifled creativity by invoking concepts of "ownership"
In response to your reply:
In this event, there is no original work that was reposted. Nothing in the original work was original; it was a "re-mix" of Kennedy's words.
In turn, my post was a remix of the selections used in the other post, with one section and two pictures removed to make the point I wanted to make.
It would have been better to provide the attribution at first, I'll admit that, but it's there now.
Unless someone has used original language, I will not ask for permission, and I will not expect permission if someone reposts one of my posts, if that post consists of material found elsewhere.
In this event, there is no original work that was reposted. Nothing in the original work was original; it was a "re-mix" of Kennedy's words.
In turn, my post was a remix of the selections used in the other post, with one section and two pictures removed to make the point I wanted to make.
It would have been better to provide the attribution at first, I'll admit that, but it's there now.
Unless someone has used original language, I will not ask for permission, and I will not expect permission if someone reposts one of my posts, if that post consists of material found elsewhere.
That's all.
or is it copyrighted?
I didn't know about this before today. I stumbled upon it while doing some research into the two remarkable men.
The Landmark for Peace is a memorial sculpture at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park on the northside of Indianapolis that honors the contributions of the slain leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. The memorial, which features King and Kennedy reaching out to each other, was designed and executed by Indiana artist Greg Perry. The bronze portraits were created by Indianapolis sculptor Daniel Edwards.
On April 4, 1968, near the site of the memorial, Robert Kennedy gave an impromptu speech to an inner-city crowd about reconciliation between the races after he learned of King's assassination.[1] Kennedy was told that riots had broken out in other cities and was advised not to make the speech, but he refused to cancel his plans. Originally Kennedy intended to make a speech on his presidential aspirations, instead he spoke of King. No riots took place in Indianapolis, a fact many attribute to the effect of Kennedy's speech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmark_for_Peace_Memorial