Two Tragic Deaths — Three Memorable Speeches
The year was only three months and four short days old,
Yet so much changing history had already been writ;
When shots thundered out near the Memphis Old Lorraine,
The hopes of a desperate nation fell so hard as he was hit.
The man who had a dream had just been cut down in his prime,
Just the night before he’d spoken of the promised land;
he’d spoken of longevity, said he might not make it with us,
He’d had a lovely vision, blacks and whites all holding hands.
In every major city, shock and strife turned into violence,
Except for Indianapolis, where a white man broke the news
To a shocked and saddened gathering of working-class Blacks,
A courageous Bobby Kennedy shared their grief with his sad views.
A white man had killed Martin, like a white man killed his brother.
His words so sadly personal, his message struck a chord.
In a year of so much violence and history-making scenes,
that speech is what stays with me more than any other words.
Then, merely two months later at a victory celebration.
He’d just won California with the presidency in sight;
a shortcut through a kitchen brought him right to his assassin.
That ended his crusade to prove that peace was our right.
This defining moment nearly drove us to despair,
We heard his brother’s words, against his tears he bravely fought.
While speaking his sad eulogy at Bobby’s funeral service,
“Some look around and say ‘Why?’ — Bobby dreamed, and said ‘Why Not?’”
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Sequence of events:
April 3, 1968 — Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his “Mountaintop” Speech to a Memphis audience.
April 4, 1968 -The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis.
- Bobby Kennedy’s speech to a largely black audience in Indianapolis that night, where very little violence occurred compared to most other major U.S. cities.
June 5, 1968 — Bobby Kennedy’s assassination
June 8, 1968 -Teddy Kennedy’s eulogy for his brother.
