RFK revisited

By: Jennifer Foster | Opelika Auburn News
Published: June 08, 2008

Fortuitous timing has CNN stepping up publicity of its coming special report, "Black in America", as Barack Obama stands on the precipice of becoming the first major party African American presidential nominee.

And CNN's talking heads have been invoking the emotions of 1968 a lot lately, especially since April, when the country marked the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

But another assassination was in the offing that summer: Thursday marked 40 years since U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Los Angeles.

Connections between the Kennedys and Obama's campaign are inevitable, especially considering Obama's youth -- he's 46 -- and that Obama won the endorsements of Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving heir to the kingdom that was Camelot, and U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, the only surviving brother of the slain president and the slain would-be president.

"Robert F. Kennedy was a man of passionate conviction, carrying a message of change, and for the forlorn and dispossessed of America, a message of hope," speechwriter and biographer Arthur Schlesinger Jr. once said of him.

A "message of change?" A "message of hope?" For all the Camelot comparisons, Obama is more Robert than John.

Some things to ponder as this anniversary passes:

RFK's children produced three op-ed pieces about their father as the nation observed the anniversary of his assassination this week. We know the words of Robert Kennedy, the politician. We know his fight against poverty and social injustice and the crushing weight of hopelessness. But what did Robert Kennedy, the daddy, give his children? Read about it here.

Check out this article about the reception Kennedy's funeral train received along the route from New York to Washington. Some historians estimate that a million people stood along the tracks to pay their respects to RFK one last time. If there was ever any doubt about the political -- and human -- impact a non-president can have on the American people, the three-and-a-half-minute multimedia presentation accompanying the story will put it to rest. Look at the people all along the route. The despair in their eyes is almost palpable.

Finally, check out the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial web site and see how the man and his work live on in others.