robert f. kennedy
remarks on the assassination of martin luther king, jr.
delivered 4 april 1968, indianapolis, in
罗伯特·肯尼迪(robert f kennedy, 1925-1968)，美国前总统约翰·肯尼迪的弟弟。1964年当选为纽约州参议员，1968年3月16日宣布自己的民主党提名总统候选人身份，1968年6月4日在重要的加利福尼亚州初选中旗开得胜，那天晚上他在洛杉矶大使饭店向他的拥护者们演说时，似乎正迈向民主党提名的目标，在穿过一间厨房的过道离开饭店时被一名心怀怨恨的巴勒斯坦移民开枪击中，两天后死去。
1968年4月4日，马丁·路德·金博士在孟菲斯遇刺。那天晚上，罗伯特·肯尼迪预定要在印地安那波利斯市一个贫穷的黑人区为他争取民主党总统候选人提名的竞选运动发表演说。警察告诫他当晚不宜去演讲，因为他们不能保证他的安全。当他到达那个地区时，他发现听众尚未听说马丁·路德·金的遇害。当晚他的即席讲话回顾了一名狙击手的子弹夺去他兄弟的生命后他个人的巨创深痛。
ladies and gentlemen,
i'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because i have some -- some very sad news for all of you -- could you lower those signs, please? -- i have some very sad news for all of you, and, i think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that martin luther king was shot and was killed tonight in memphis, tennessee.
martin luther king dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. he died in the cause of that effort. in this difficult day, in this difficult time for the united states, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. for those of you who are black -- considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.
we can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. or we can make an effort, as martin luther king did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.
for those of you who are black and are tempted to fill with -- 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. 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.
my favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was aeschylus. and he once wrote:
even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of god.
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 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.
so i ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of martin luther king -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which i spoke.
we can do well in this country. we will have difficult times. we've had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future. it is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.
but the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.
and let's dedicate ourselves to what the greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.
thank you very much.