It is a cold and rainy evening in Indianapolis this night, April 4th, 1968. For the man with less than four months to live, this would seem like a simple campaign stop, however his next speech will go down as one of the most memorable addresses in history. For Robert F. Kennedy will have to a crowd of minorities that their champion, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed just hours before.
In his long black overcoat, Kennedy pauses after the crowd’s shock and then begins his speech. “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.”
This teaches us both a political lesson and a life lesson at the same token. There is one thing that too often abounds, and that is a lack of forgiveness. We see this on a macrocosm every day in our nation’s capital as there is little to no common ground between the two parties and compromise (yes I know, I said the "c" word) is now a foreign relic of the past.
As a society, we must always remember that we are one nation and that we must come together to see ourselves through the darkest of hours. There is much that divides us yes, but the bonds that unite us, we this breed called Americans, they cannot be broken. The time that faces us is too precious, the point in history is too great, and the moment is too filled with occasion for us to succumb to anything less than greatness.
In his last speech, Martin Luther King Jr. told a crowd of sanitation workers in Memphis Tennessee, “Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity…I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”
Just like Martin Luther King and JFK, this is my dream too. I dream that we will see treat other in the spirit of compassion and brotherhood and mercy. My only question with you is: will you share my dream?
