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RFK

40 Years

By Russ Stresing

Saw this on Meet The Press this morning.  Kinda gave me pause for thought.

MR. RUSSERT:  Which, which leads me to Robert F. Kennedy.  We're going to talk about him in our "Meet the Press Minute."  But look at this.  He gave a speech to the Voice of America all around the world 40 years ago.  And despite what was going on in the country, particularly in Alabama, Bobby Kennedy said this:  Things are "moving so fast in race relations a Negro could be president in 40 years." This is in 1968, we're now in 2008.  "`There's no question about it,' the attorney general said.  `In the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has.' ...  Kennedy said that prejudice exists and probably will continue to ...  `But we have tried to make progress and we are making progress.  We are not going to accept the status quo.'" Extraordinarily prescient, which leads us to our "Meet the Press Minute."

Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy proclaimed victory in the California primary.
(Videotape)
SEN. ROBERT F. KENNEDY (D-NY):  Now it's on to Chicago, and let's win there.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT:  But Robert Kennedy never made it to Chicago.  Moments after that speech, he was shot in a kitchen corridor of the Ambassador Hotel and died the next day.

 

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