Photo: Wikimedia Commons
It’s been four decades since Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed. On the occasion of this anniversary, there’s much media coverage of his life and his death. In all the years that have passed since that tragic moment, a flood of commentary has flowed. Yet it remains hard to improve upon what Bobby Kennedy said on the night of that assassination in Indianapolis, where he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. He spoke extemporaneously and had the hard task of informing the crowd of King’s violent death. Here is the audio of Kennedy’s remarks accompanied by a photo montage:
As many commentators have noted, there were riots in cities across America when people learned of the news of King’s murder, but there was calm in Indianapolis that horrible night.
Two months later, RFK would be shot and killed. If you want to see actual footage of Kennedy speaking to the crowd in Indianapolis (with Italian subtitles superimposed), you’ll find it after the jump:
