Remembering Robert F. Kennedy's historic MLK speech
Riots broke out in more than 100 cities on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, but none happened in Indianapolis thanks, many believe, to an impassioned call for peace from Robert F. Kennedy.
Kennedy, then a U.S. senator running for president, broke the news of King's murder and called for love and compassion as he addressed about 2,500 people from atop a flatbed truck at 17th and Broadway streets April 4, 1968.
"What we need in the United States is not division," Kennedy told the crowd, "what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, 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."
That historic speech, delivered just two months before Kennedy himself would fall to an assassin's bullet, will be remembered with prayer, song and tributes Monday, April 4, at the site where Kennedy spoke: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 1702 N. Broadway St.
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Events will begin at noon with the dedication of a new basketball court. Mayor Joe Hogsett will deliver a keynote speech during an hourlong ceremony that begins at 5 p.m. Kennedy's speech, which lasted less than five minutes, will be shown on video. Video also will show King's final public address, the "Mountaintop" speech, delivered April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn.
The late William Crawford, then a member of the Black Radical Action Project, stood about 20 feet away when Kennedy spoke.
"Look at all those other cities," Crawford told IndyStar reporter Will Higgins for a story published last April. "I believe it would have gone that way (in Indianapolis) had not Bobby Kennedy given those remarks."
A year after that speech, Crawford became a community organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Crawford won a seat in the Indiana General Assembly in 1972, serving for 40 years. He died in September at age 79.
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"The sincerity of Bobby Kennedy's words just resonated," Crawford told Higgins, "especially when he talked about his brother."
It was the first time the younger brother had spoken publicly about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
"For those of you who are black and are tempted to ... be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling," Kennedy said.
"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 get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times."
Anger gave way to tears. The speech ended. The crowd solemnly dispersed.
Other cities burned; Indianapolis mourned.
Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.
Kennedy King Commemoration, April 4, 2016
Noon: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dedicates a new basketball court at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 1701 Broadway St. The court was built in conjunction with this year’s Women’s Final Four.
1:30 p.m.: Symposium on civil discourse at the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis Campus Center. Keynote delivered by playwright James Still, who authored a play based on the events of April 4, 1968. Information: (317) 278-4230 or igd@iupui.edu.
4 p.m.: Indy yogis will gather at King Park with INDYoga Votes for a peace meditation.
5 p.m.: Music, performances and speeches by Mayor Joe Hogsett and others near the Kennedy King Memorial in King Park. If it rains, the event will move to an adjacent auditorium. A public reception follows at 6 p.m.
Information:www.kennedykingindy.org