Wednesday, December 17, 2008

RFK: 'What We Need in the United States'

"Saturday, December 13, 2008

RFK: 'What we need in the United States'

It was upon the death of Dr. Martin Luther King that Robert Kennedy, JFKs younger brother, addressed the issue of what we need in the United States. One can be sure that upon that tragic occasion, Kennedy did not intend to lecture or proselytize. He was not on the stump. On that night, he wasn't trying to get any one elected. His intention was one of consolation in the face of tragic loss. In it is found our nation's only hope. Given the path our nation has taken over the last eight years, we must now reassess where we have been and whether we wish to remain there. The divisions are not merely 'racial' now. One American is pitted against another based upon privilege and power. It is time again to consider 'what we need in the United States'.

Now, as then, we want justice for all human beings that 'reside in our land'. Given the last eight years, in which we have waged aggressive war and mass murder upon populations having nothing whatsoever to do with 911, we must restore the principles of 'justice' of which RFK spoke so profoundly, simply, from the heart and without notes, speech writers, press agents or spin doctors.

Over the last eight years, justice had been subverted from within and from the top --not from without. 'Leaders' --elected and otherwise --have accomplished what no terrorists have either accomplished or attempted. The 'enemies' are of our own invention, created that we might be subdued from within.

We simply may not presume to impose by force a fiat that is without basis in law, justice, or compassion. Have we learned nothing from the violent decade of the sixties when, in fact, we waged war upon ourselves as an unfeeling government waged war upon us as well as against the people of Viet Nam? Did we learn nothing from the civil rights movement? Did we learn nothing from the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy and many others too numerous to name?
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States and he is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today.A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–6) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. ---Wiki
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also called RFK, was the United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964 and a US Senator from New York from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. He was one of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's younger brothers, and also one of his most trusted advisers and worked closely with the president during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also made a significant contribution to the African-American Civil Rights Movement.After the John F. Kennedy assassination in late 1963, Kennedy continued as Attorney General under President Johnson for nine months. He resigned in September 1964 and was elected to the United States Senate from New York that November. He broke with Johnson over the Vietnam War, among other issues.After Eugene McCarthy nearly defeated Johnson in the New Hampshire Primary in early 1968, Kennedy announced his own campaign for president, seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party. Kennedy defeated McCarthy in the critical California primary but was shot shortly after midnight of June 5, 1968, dying on June 6. On June 9, President Johnson assigned security staff to all Presidental candidates and declared an official day of national mourning in response to the public grief following Kennedy's death.--Wiki


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