随笔：罗伯特肯尼迪纪念马丁路德金的即兴演说

海阔天空 2020/05/31

今年的国殇节必然在历史上不同寻常，不仅记载了新冠死亡十万的悲伤，还见证了又一个少数族裔GeorgeFloyd被一个白人警察（及其三个同僚）杀害的悲剧。

毫无疑问，美国目前又面临一个充满悲伤，偏见，愤怒，仇恨，甚至暴力的时刻。。。种族歧视依然根深蒂固，白人至上主义新纳粹组织甚至在2016年后招摇过市，日益猖狂。

每当这样的时刻，我都会重温1968/04/04罗伯特肯尼迪（RFK）在马丁路德金（MLK）被杀害之后的即兴演说https://youtu.be/GoKzCff8Zbs
RFK的即兴演说充满了理解，同情，爱心，公正和正义，代表了*人人生而平等*的美国建国理念。

或许实现这一建国理念的道路还非常漫长和曲折，但是我们不能放弃，不能沉默，必须继续努力，必须坚持抗争。因为美国不是只属于某一个族裔，而是属于所有族裔；平等，公正和法律不应该只保护某一个族裔，而一个保护保护每一个人，无论肤色种族。 为了实现这一个理想，我们必须和所有族裔的美国同胞一起继续奋斗。

RFK‘s speech:

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, 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-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 and go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poem, my favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own de-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, feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. (Applause)

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will-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.

With- (Interrupted by applause) Let us 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. (Applause)

Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968