In stark contrast to today, Robert Kennedy, a Democratic presidential candidate, gave the following speech in Indianapolis.

Kennedy's speech perhaps offers a lesson in leadership and reminds the United States, but also the world there are different ways to lead.

Robert Kennedy's speech

"I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

"Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

"In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.

"For those of you who are black—considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible—you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

"We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization—black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

"Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

"For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling.

"I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

"But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

"My favourite poet was Aeschylus.

"He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

"So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly, to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love—a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

"We can do well in this country.

"We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

"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.

"Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

"Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people."

The Church in the Modern World

That the world, but particularly the United States still needs to address the issues of race, power, pain, privilege and violence remains a scandal.

A little more than 50 years ago, Pope Paul VI promulgated Gaudium et Spes, the "Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World".

"The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men and women of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.

"Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.

"For theirs is a community composed of men and women.

"United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man and woman.

"That is why this community realises that it is truly linked with humanity and its history by the deepest of bonds." (Paragraph 1.)

Sources

• Gaudium et Spes
• The History Place

An outstanding example of this truth is found in the prophetic discipleship of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr King, with selfless courage, faithfully lived out his God-given mission 50 years ago - albeit ending tragically too short.

What happened 50 years ago?

For on the evening of April 4, 1968, after preaching and being present in solidarity with poorly paid African-American sanitation workers, King, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., suffered a fatal bullet wound - leaving this world at the young age of 39.

On that sad day America, and indeed the whole world, lost a powerfully prophetic voice and courageous witness to the social justice and nonviolent peace teachings of Jesus Christ.

But a fatal bullet coming from one assassin or from a conspiracy of Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies could not silence the truthful words that continue to challenge a nation and world to completely abandon its deep-seated acceptance and addiction to racism, inequality, injustice, militarism and violence.

The messenger was killed. But his message lives on!

King said, "God intends for all of his children to have the basic necessities of life, and he has left in this universe enough and to spare for that purpose."

For example, there is indeed enough food in the world to adequately feed every single child, woman and man. And yet, over 40 million people in the United States struggle with hunger. And according to Catholic Relief Services over 800 million fellow human beings throughout the world are hungry.

Why are we allowing this to happen?

In large part this hunger suffered by so many is due to an increasing disparity between the haves and the have-nots. And President Trump's and Congress' new tax law widens this disparity.

And while most Americans think the U.S. gives at least 25 percent of its national budget to help the poorest hungriest people in the world, the truth is that the U.S. government allocates less than 1 percent towards poverty-focused international aid. That is downright stingy.

King said, "A riot is the language of the unheard." This is a hard fact. And it applies not only in the U.S. but around the world.

I recently heard Rev. Mae Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, say in reference to the injustices and poverty suffered by Gazans at the hands of the Israeli government that "desperate situations leave people feeling desperate. And desperate people lead to war".

This is why Blessed Pope Paul VI famously said, "If you want peace, work for justice."

Spiritual doom

Spiritual death draws ever closer as the U.S. and many other nations continue to spend $1.7 trillion annually on war and war preparation while allowing countless people to suffer and die in poverty and hunger.

King warned, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

And that is where the U.S. and many other nations are at: the cliff of spiritual doom. America has "In God we trust" on its money, but in many ways not in its heart.

But it doesn't have to be this way. King encouragingly said, "The time is always right to do what is right."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings about Catholic social teaching. His keynote address, "Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century," has been well received by diocesan and parish gatherings from Santa Clara, Calif. to Baltimore, Md. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.

This is one of the most stirring documents in American history: a courageous and compelling defence of civil disobedience, a call to Christian activism and an intellectual defence of the natural law as a reflection of an order in the universe established by its creator. While gay rights advocates have framed the struggle for same-sex marriage as the "new civil rights movement", it is doubtful that they would agree with Dr King's strong defence of the natural law.

In view of its importance, we are publishing some of the most significant paragraphs from Dr King's letter. The complete document is available at many sites on the internet.

16 April 1963

My Dear Fellow Clergymen:

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms…

There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. Continue reading

Sources

• MercatorNet
• Image: George's Journal