The Mindless Menace of Violence

"Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
~ Abraham Lincoln
 

On April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King was assassinated and just a month and a day before he himself was murdered, Senator Robert F. Kennedy spoke about the "mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and every one of our lives." I have listened to that speech again and again in the past view days as I've tried to process the shootings in Arizona. For me, Senator Kennedy's words tell us everything we need to know in these troubled times.

You can listen to Robert Kennedy's speech below. To read the transcript, visit the John F. Kennedy Library website.



"Some looks for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear; violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul."
~ Robert F. Kennedy


Thanks to David Murray of Vital Speeches of the Day for making this his speech of the week.