Memorial Service for Robert F. Kennedy

June 9, 1968
Plainfield

Memorial Service for Robert F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy is dead at the age of 42 years. The bloody wave of senseless violence has once again shocked our sensibilities, ravaged our stability and stunned our hopes. Another famous American has been killed by the assassin's bullet. The public servant once again was the target for the gun of a killer. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was murdered in the course of the American political process we call “seeking the presidential nomination.”

Conjecture tumbles over speculation. Why did it happen? Why is ours a land of violence? Is there spreading decay in the human civilities? Is there something about our partisan frenzies, political build-up and election contests that precipitate latent and suppressed hostilities into overt and destructive acts? Is some contagion of violence infecting the vulnerable? Has the American dream become a nightmare?

Why does a killer kill? Why did the man cautiously called “the prime suspect” pull the trigger ? We ask this question far too frequently in this land of ours. President John F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are revered martyrs who were known for their conviction of human brotherhood and their public acts to bring more justice to the social order. Now Robert Kennedy, a man with the same inner conviction and public courage has joined their tragic company. Brave lives, but brief lives.

James Meredith was shot, but survived. Many other lesser-known persons, civil rights advocates and workers have been murdered. Too soon we forget, not only their names and deeds but also we lose a sense of the urgency of the causes for which they died: Megdar Evers, James Reeb, Viola Liuzzo, Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner, many others. Even a hate-monger, George Lincoln Rockwell, was not exempt from the violent death of the assassin's bullet.

A senseless and immoral war in Asia
Strife and misery in our cities
Racism in our land
Poverty and hunger affecting thousands of poor people in the rural areas of barren land or enormous farms where the machine has replaced the man.
Pollution in the skies and streams
Hate in the hearts of too many persons.
Is this our culture?

Many books and articles occupy space on library shelves to attempt to explain human irrational violence. Pick and choose a theory. Consider our violence a primeval remnant from the days of fang and claw if you wish; or maybe you would defend the theory that human beings who are overcrowded and compressed into insufficient living space respond with violence. This has been demonstrated in experiments with rats. Too little space creates frustration, rage and a striking-out in violence. But whatever the theory, can we limit, curtail, restrain violence to the end that young men who have conviction, ambition, energy, opportunity and desire to be leaders in the public order will not be murdered because they had this will to serve their fellow-citizens?

It is not enough to dismiss the matter sorrowfully in the grounds that the assassins are isolated psychotics, maddened by emotional derangements and therefore unrepresentative of American society.

The formidable fact is that we have ignored some of the controls that might have made it difficult for the unfit person to purchase guns. On April 29, 1968, Senator Dodd, a consistent fighter for gun control laws, had a sermon by Dr. Duncan Howlett printed in the Congressional Record. Duncan Howlett is minister of All Souls Unitarian Church, Washington, D. C. A gun control law has been consistently and effectively opposed by the powerful lobby of the National Rifleman's Association. Duncan Howlett urged the passage of a gun control without loopholes. Chief Campbell of the Plainfield Police Dept said to the clergy the other day that a tight Federal gun-control law would be one means of reducing violence.

A year ago, Senator Edward Kennedy confronted 75 members of the Board of the National Rifleman's Association and attacked their opposition to gun controls. He exposed their false publicity, reminding them that gun control legislation would not interfere with the recreation of the real sportsman.

The NRA did not pay any attention to him. Perhaps gun control would not have made a difference. Perhaps Senator Edward Kennedy’s brother, John, an assassinated President would still be buried these four years in Arlington National Cemetery. Perhaps Senator Robert Kennedy would still be interred these few hours near his older brother in Arlington National Cemetery. Perhaps the assassins of Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers would still have been able to procure the weapons used for murder. No one can say with certainty.

But it can be asserted that stricter gun controls might have reduced the 7000 murders by gunfire, the yearly average now in our country. Probably it would reduce the ghastly statistic of 18,000 deaths caused by the accidental discharge of a gun.

Can we face up to the figures for our violent land? (1963, quoted by Duncan Howlett): Switzerland had 1/25 of the number of murders by gunfire as the U.S. Great Britain had 1/50 of the number of murders by gunfire as the U.S. The Netherlands had 1/90 of the number of murders by gunfire as the U.S.

Effective gun control would reduce that disproportionate number of murders. Under the impact of this latest assassination, Congress passed Thursday the gun control law which had been much weakened by amendments. But much stronger legislation is needed.

Gunnar Myrdal, the perceptive Swedish social scientist, believes the tradition of violence and political assassination is growing in our country. Who among you can argue the evidence? The President has appointed a special commission to study the causes of violence and to suggest possible remedies. One can only hope that more attention will be given to the results of this study than to the recent President's Commission on Civil Disorders. That is a remarkable document – surprising in its candid appraisal of the real problems and astonishing in the degree that it has been ignored.

Poverty, injustice, hunger, ill-health are breeders of violence as well as the cause of much apathy. We can never entirely solve the problem of the individual psychotic who suddenly goes berserk and kills. But if we can come to grips with the environmental problems, then there is much that can be changed for the better.

For most persons, in America, this is a day of penitence and national sorrow. Many persons will be torn by vague but disturbing guilt. Our task is not to indulge in formless feelings of guilt in mourning the death of Robert F. Kennedy. Our proper attitude is to mourn his death as a brave, out-spoken public servant; AND to resolve that we shall be among those who strive to determine the priorities of our national life.

In that lonesome airplane that bore the body of Robert F. Kennedy to New York, Thursday, among others on board were Mrs. John F. Kennedy, widow of the assassinated President, Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr., widow of the assassinated Dr. King, Charles Evers (who has spoken from this pulpit), brother of the assassinated Medgar Evers, and the newest member of the grieving circle, Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy.

Who can measure tragedy? Who can perceive the depth of the fellowship of grief which must have prevailed in that airplane? Who can feel truly the agonies of their sorrow?

There was common ground on which the martyrs had stood. They had established priorities for which they gave more than dedicated, impassioned leadership. They gave life itself because they had determined the national priorities for which they gladly and tirelessly labored. All of them were aware of the constant peril in which their lives were lived. They sought a larger life for all and each had to pay for the effort with a tragically shortened life for himself.

What can one say about our debt to those who have died for human brotherhood, economic opportunity and political freedom and power for those who have been deprived of these rights? We can look at ourselves, Americans, New Jerseyans. Are our priorities related to peace, freedom, human dignity? Let's look at our political parties and add whatever ounces of weight our influence may represent to bring about a closer balance on the scales of justice.

Working for such achievement is the lasting memorial for those who risked and gave their lives.

May such a spirit of faithfulness to the best goals we know and persistence in making some part of the ideal become real be our authentic labor as an enduring memorial to all the heroes and martyrs who died for their dreams. Because their dreams were of a fairer, better social order for everyone, they died for all of us.