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DEL.ICIO.USRemembering Bobby Kennedy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. John Lewis called this afternoon, and we wandered onto the topic of Robert Kennedy, who died 40 years ago today, felled by an assassin. Lewis was there — here’s his verbatim recollection:
I was in L.A. I was in his room at the Ambassador Hotel on the fifth floor. Today, I was talking to a friend of mine, and I said, “It is so sad, I’m not so sure I’m going to be able to watch this piece on CNN tonight, at 8 o’clock, that they’re going to do on Bobby Kennedy.”
But I was there, and he spoke to me [for] 15 minutes before he made his speech. He was joking with me. He said, “John, you let me down today. More Mexican-Americans turned out to vote than Negroes.” That’s what he said.
And he asked me to remain there. I was standing a few floors up from his speech with his sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, Charles Evers, the brother of Medgar Evers, Jack Newfield of the Village Voice, Teddy White, who wrote “The Making of a President,” and a few other people.
We watched him make his speech, and a few minutes later the bulletin came on, that Senator Kennedy had been shot. I just wanted to get out of L.A. I came back to Atlanta the next day on a Delta flight from L.A. to Atlanta, and I think I cried all the way back, off and on.
And then he died. He was shot on the 5th, and died on the 6th. And after he passed, his family sent me a telegram inviting me to come to New York and be an honor guard at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. I stood with Rev. Ralph Abernathy. We took turns, in twos. Then they invited me to ride the funeral train. And I rode the funeral train from New York City to Washington.
He was a man I loved and cared for, like a brother, really.
Photo credit: Associated Press
Comments
By jeal
June 6, 2008 6:49 PM | Link to this
This is all so sad! I remember the year he died! We are a worse nation for this awful act!
By Jim
June 6, 2008 7:43 PM | Link to this
I remember that night well. I was sitting in front of the television, watching the California primary election returns with my grandmother in Cedarpines Park, California.
We were shocked when Senator Kennedy was shot. We could not believe it.
It was a flashback to Dallas TX when his brother was killed.
I was 20 when Bobby Kennedy was killed, I am 60 now.
By Jim
June 6, 2008 7:44 PM | Link to this
I remember that night well. I was sitting in front of the television, watching the California primary election returns with my grandmother in Cedarpines Park, California.
We were shocked when Senator Kennedy was shot. We could not believe it.
It was a flashback to Dallas TX when his brother was killed.
I was 20 when Bobby Kennedy was killed, I am 60 now.
By Jim
June 6, 2008 7:44 PM | Link to this
I remember that night well. I was sitting in front of the television, watching the California primary election returns with my grandmother in Cedarpines Park, California.
We were shocked when Senator Kennedy was shot. We could not believe it.
It was a flashback to Dallas TX when his brother was killed.
I was 20 when Bobby Kennedy was killed, I am 60 now.
By Ole Joe
June 8, 2008 3:32 AM | Link to this
This blubbering over the Kennedy Klan is absurd. Krooks, perverts and drunks the lot of them. Thank goodness for bullets, trees, oceans, strokes and brain tumors!
By citizenfortruth
June 9, 2008 12:45 AM | Link to this
Thanks Ole Joe - you have reaffirmed my decision to become a Democrat.
If you have a chance, you should try to spend a little time with a local pastor or clergy member. Getting to know Christ may improve your disposition.