Of possible interest to admirers of Robert Kennedy

[saltpoint]

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rfk.htm

Posted as an antidote to the current crop of reporting on the Bush White House.

an-ti-dote 1. An agent that counteracts a poison. 2. Something that relieves or counteracts.

Public service can be like Robert Kennedy envisioned it and lived it.

I miss him.

[hlthe2b]

1. God... so do I

so do I.... thanks

[saltpoint]

2. -- --

:bluebox: :bluebox: :bluebox: :patriot:

[Greylyn58]

3. I miss him too.

Especially when I think of the direction the US would have taken under his administration.

It's heartbreaking. :cry:

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but 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 they be black.”

Robert F. Kennedy- speaking to blacks after death of Martin Luther King

[saltpoint]

5. Yes. One of Kennedy's finest moments came in Indianapolis when he

announced to his audience that Dr. King had been killed in Memphis.

This was in 1968 -- long before 24-7 news feeds.

[Greylyn58]

8. I agree.

Bobby was special and taken from us way too soon.

[EFerrari]

20. He did that over the objections of his advisors.

He was magnificent.

[saltpoint]

22. Yes. His advisors warned him that it was a risk, and then-Indianapolis Mayor

Dick Lugar (!) INSISTED that he not do it, and of course they all forgot that they were talking to Robert Kennedy, and he by god did it anyway.

That's how history is made, by sturdy, true spirits cobbling together the vivid strands of difficult truths.

[golddigger]

4. I was 12 yrs old...

When Bobby was assassinated. At the time I didn't know much about politics, but, my older brother was killed in Nam. My parents loved Bobby kennedy. They believed that if Bobby was elected he would have stop the war, They let me stay up late that nite to watch Bobby at the Ambassador Hotel.

When we heard that Bobby was shot, I went into my closet and cried my eyes out.

[saltpoint]

6. Your post is poignant, golddigger. We've all been 12 years old at some

point in our lives and to have been 12 the night Robert Kennedy was killed is almost too much to bear.

I believe your parents were right.

[golddigger]

10. Thank you...

Old Crusoe, I had a stroke in 2001. But I have been a member of DU since 2002. I have trouble stringing word together sometimes. That's why I have a low post count due to being afraid I would sound like a doofus. Glad you replied, at least I know I make some sense sometimes.

I love Du, it keeps my brain active. Matter of fact I spend about 8 hrs. a day reading DU. Though some posts make my brain hurt...lol

That night will always stick in my brain. I still cry whenever I think about it. It felt like losing a family member.

:cry:

[saltpoint]

11. I understand completely. You make PLENTY of sense and should post

all you want, any time you want.

I would look forward to hearing what you say.

Robert Kennedy isn't actually "family" but I agree with you -- it felt as if someone very close had been taken away.

[Greylyn58]

7. I turned 10 years old in '68

and like you, I was not as astute about politics in general. My dad was in the Marines, stationed at Camp Pendleton, California at the time, and both he and my mom where(and are) strong Democrats. Currently, my Mom is the Democratic Judge in her precinct.

I too, was allowed to watch Bobby's victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel. I remember my Mom being excited that he had won the California primary. I also remember her reaction when the news of his being shot was announced.

"Oh God, not again!"

1968 was a terrible year...we lost so much.

[saltpoint]

9. Agree on all counts, and also, that's a great dog in that photo.

I just KNOW that dog is a Democrat.

[Greylyn58]

26. Why yes he is.... :-D

and he LOVES Keith Olbermann, too. My boy Sheridan has great taste.

[saltpoint]

28. i KNEW it! You pet that good dog for me, ok? He's a good un', I can tell.

[EFerrari]

16. You and I are the same age and did the same thing.

:hug:

[EFerrari]

12. I still can't even think about him without tearing up.

He was a good, decent man. I miss him, too, my friend. He grew up right in front of us, surrounded by enemies and he kept moving anyway.

[defendandprotect]

13. I didn't hear the news until the morning .... I can't believe that there was so little response -- !

I thought everyone would just stop the world and focus on this and what was happening with political violence. But, we didn't . . . somehow, we didn't . . .

RFK brought such hope and then it was all gone ---

[EFerrari]

15. My grandma, my mom and I were glued to the teevee.

We'd just finished up walking.

The whole place went dark for days.

[saltpoint]

14. sfexpat, thank you for throwing in on this thread. What an era of

public citizenship it was, and how convincingly John and Robert were in fulfilling that heightened citizenship.

An argument could be made that the country was at its best then.

These two have a permanent lock on me emotionally, too.

By any chance have you read Don DeLillo's LIBRA? It's from the point of view of Lee Harvey Oswald, with the president making a few key appearances. It's really good stuff.

[EFerrari]

17. No, I haven't but thank you for the ref.

Right now I'm slowly going through Brothers. :hi:

[saltpoint]

18. Well keep on doing that, and keep caring about poetry, and don't stop being

you.

[EFerrari]

19. OMG! You have Saturate Before Using as your avatar!

HA! Someday I'm going to put my signed copy on eBay and retire.

:rofl:

[saltpoint]

21. Hey! Not fair that you have a signed copy of that album! Not fair at all.

Well. Auction it on eBay, and I'll rob the Chase Manhattan bank and become high bidder.

What a collection of images. I've played several copies of that thing to death, and replaced them. Just ordered another copy of the CD!

"...O people, look around you: the signs are everywhere
You've left it for somebody other than you to be the one to care
You're lost inside your houses; there's no time to find you now
So while your walls are burning and your towers are turning
I'm going to leave you here and try to get down to sea somehow..."

God it just knocks me out.

[EFerrari]

23. I hauled my whole family to Japan Town on my 30th to a benefit

for the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front that night. My poor godmother looked around after finishing her salad and said, "These people are all COMMUNISTS." But, she didn't make a fuss. She just wanted to make sure we all knew who we were eating with. lol

The second before he was done, I raced to the stage like a teenager to get a signature. I thought my mom was right behind me. She lied.

And, he stole my pen!

:rofl:


"And it's a long way that I have come"

[saltpoint]

24. LOL! Communists! I had uncles and aunts who warned me about some of

those same folks, I bet!

Browne stood with the unnamed and anonymous villagers Negroponte's death squads undermined and in many cases, disappeared.

His music sales dropped off sharply around that time, but his critical acclaim on the left soared.

What a GREAT night you had in Japan town. "Them communists shor do know how to cook!"

When I was last in SF I stayed in that neck of the woods at the Best Western. They have a terrific German desk clerk.
____________

"...across the sand to find these people of the sun
where the families work the land
as they have always done
O it's so far the other way my country's gone..."

[EFerrari]

25. Come on back out.

I can dig up some silver and my brother plays the jazz clubs.

"Sing my songs to me / because it seems to me/ that there can never be / another way to see who I am / come timelessly dancing / Sing my dreams to me."

:toast:

Jackson paid for his activism but, he also made a big old karma deposit.

[saltpoint]

27. I'll PM ya if my travels take me west.

I had a busy schedule today and ran just a bit late because I stayed back a while to read more of Schama's book.

His students are the luckiest people in New York.

:toast:

[lonestarnot]

29. Me too.

:cry:

[saltpoint]

34. -- -- --

:thumbsup: :hug:

[ConsAreLiars]

30. Our last best hope. Our LAST best hope.

And he was murdered. Along with JFK, King, Malcolm, Kent State, Jackson State, George Jackson, Mark Clark, and many, many more. McGovern was right on the issues in '68, but, sorry, a bit of a dweeb. When RFK announced I felt we had a REAL chance to fight the War Monsters and win. And I felt we had a candidate who not only knew the difference between right and wrong (rare enough) but actually felt it passionately.

When he was murdered my hope died with him. Oh, I've kept on fighting for peace and justice, because that is the only possible option, but my belief that change for the better would take place "within the system" was shattered. Maybe it can, that's where I have put my efforts, but no other candidate since then has ever seemed better than "the lesser evil."

Listen, listen and weep:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rfkonmlkdeath.html

http://www.rfksa.org/speeches/

And listen some more: http://www.robertfkennedylinks.com/audio.html

[saltpoint]

35. Strong words of praise for one of the rare few who earned such words.

Thank you.

[bleever]

31. Hope springs anew.

That's what makes it a miracle, along with everything else.

[adadem]

32. He would have been

81 years old had he not been murdered. ...how different our world may have been.

[saltpoint]

36. Strongly agree, cheryl27. What a different world, and what a different

(and much keener and much kinder) model of citizenship we would have had as a nation.

[madokie]

33. I'll never forget being awaken for my watch duty by the guy I would be relieving told me that

Kennedy had been shot, I said I know that, that happened a long time ago, he said no just now. I was in a time warp there for a moment. So sad that we lost two good men in such a short time

I was in the USN at the time.

[saltpoint]

37. Hi, madokie. Yes. That spring was emotionally disastrous for the

United States.

There are certainly other people who are visional and good. But those two were legends long before they were felled.

They earned "legend" with real words and deeds.