"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 who abide in our land."
That was Robert F. Kennedy speaking in Indianapolis 40 years ago (tomorrow is the anniversary). He had intended to give his standard stump speech but learned just before arriving in Indianapolis that Martin Luter King had been shot. He is said to have scribbled notes on the back of an envelope for his new remarks, which lasted about six minutes and are now recognized to constitute one of the great speeches of the modern era. (Listen to it here.)
The lines with which he ended the speech would sound just as good today: "Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and our people."
