by Robert Wilkinson
Between early April and early June 1968, America had two assassinations that killed a dream and broke America's heart. Today we remember one that clearly marked the end of an era. There are a few days each year that are tough for me. This is one of them.
56 years ago at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, someone set Bobby Kennedy up to die the night he won the California Democratic Party primary. Funny how the exit route just happened to change (conveniently at the last minute!) so he and the future of America could be bushwhacked in the kitchen by a true rat hired by the grey men in the shadows to ensure a Nixon victory that year. Shot on June 5, he died early on June 6.
Many years ago I saw an amazing Italian documentary called The Two Kennedys. In it the narrator pointed out that America is the only nation naive enough to believe political assassinations don't happen here. The lone gunman myth seems embedded in American political consciousness to fog critical thinking about inconvenient facts and trails of disturbing breadcrumbs. The 60s created some pretty strange mythologies, as well as some wonderful ones.
Anyway, it's a given through history that some groups will stop at nothing to keep their power. RIP, Bobby. You were one for the ages. A few relevant quotes lifted from previous articles below.
Some choice echoes from RFK:
"Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom languishes.""There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?"
"Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital, quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change."
"Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
And from his last speech:
"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
Aum and blessings. Given the victim, I am reminded of a song written in 1968 after too damn many assassinations. For your reflection, from The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as we saw it then, the original performance by Dion of Richard Holler's awesome and beautiful song, the incredible "Abraham, Martin, and John." Here's another live performance by Dion with Aaron Neville of "Abraham, Martin, and John"
May we live to see war no more and violence wrought by guns come to an end. Too many good ones "walk up over the hill...."
Abraham, Martin, and John
Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.
Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.
Article Copyright © 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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