2.8
November 25, 2014

Would RFK could give this speech in Ferguson, tonight.

Update: April 8, 2015. Unarmed black man shot by police officer in South Carolina—caught on video. 

On Saturday, an officer shot a black man stopped for a traffic offense in South Carolina. Officer Michael Slager reportedly claimed that the man, Walter Scott, was trying to take his stun gun, so he shot him in self-defense. This video taken by a bystander reveals otherwise.

This incident follows high profile cases concerning uncharged police officer murders in Ferguson and New York.

 

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“Violence breeds violence.”

A speech to pacify the flames of hatred and bring us back together. Please share, tonight, especially.

Hear his tears. There were no riots in Indianapolis, that night—though there were across our country.

When Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot, RFK was campaigning for President. He had the unwelcome job of announcing his assassination to a largely African-American crowd. It’s heartbreaking—he announces MLK’s assassination live, before anyone had heard it on the news. He and MLK were close, of course, had worked together and battled tons.

There were no riots in Indianapolis, that night, though there were across our country.

Here’s his speech. A speech that brought us together in a moment of tears and tearing and anger. You can hear the sadness and pain in the crowd and his voice.

The context of this great speech adds a great deal to understanding it.  This speech wasn’t a prepared presentation long after the fact, but an announcement made in an Indianapolis ghetto before word had otherwise got the news.

In the light of Ferguson, I give you Robert Kennedy’s speech from the day after MLK was killed: “The Mindless Menace of Violence”

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