Robert F. Kennedy. A True Humanitarian

Robert F. Kennedy was a true humanitarian and not at all like most politicians. He was profoundly moved by things he had witnessed and truly sought to make a difference. He also asked others who where privileged to do the same.

”In 1967, Senator Robert F. Kennedy travelled to Mississippi to check on the progress of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, better known as the War on Poverty. What he found, writes Peter Edelman in his book "So Rich, So Poor", was “children, thousands of them, hungry to a point very near starvation.”  Kennedy was “deeply moved and outraged,” Edelman writes, and made relieving hunger a top priority. These photos illustrate the lives of poor African Americans in rural Mississippi around the time of Kennedy’s visit — images likely similar to the ones that inspired him.”

 

Out of respect for the people Bobby visited there were no pictures taken. However the people that witnessed the visits talked about how he held babies and played with the children and spoke to people with dignity and respect.  Not an act that should make a hero out of man, but it certainly was not common behaviour in those or these days,  from a rich politician.

Robert Kennedy was deeply shocked by the assassination of Martin Luther King. Later that day he spoke in Indianapolis about the killing. He referred to the assassination of John Kennedy. When that happened he was “filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act” but pleaded with the black community not to desire revenge but to “make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.”

The assassination of King further radicalised Robert Kennedy. During a speech at the Indiana University Medical Center, one of the students called out: “Where are we going to get the money to pay for all these new programs you’re proposing?” Kennedy replied: “From you. I look around this room and I don’t see many black faces who will become doctors. Part of a civilized society is to let people go to medical school who come from ghettos. I don’t see many people coming here from the slums, or off of Indian reservations. You are the privileged ones here. It’s easy for you to sit back and say it’s the fault of the Federal Government. But it’s our responsibility too. It’s our society too… It’s the poor who carry the major burden of the struggle in Vietnam. You sit here as white medical students, while black people carry the burden of the fighting in Vietnam.”

The students reacted by hissing and booing Kennedy. His advisors warned him that if he was perceived as an extremist he would never win the election. However, Kennedy was no longer thinking like a politician trying to maximize his vote. Instead he was determined to say what he believed. Kennedy told Jack Newfield (author of numerous books and an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker) that he would probably not win the nomination but “somebody has to speak up for the Negroes and Indians and Mexicans and poor whites.”  Despite this pessimism, Kennedy won the Indiana primary with 42% of the vote.

Kennedy also sought to advance the worldwide cause of human rights. In a 1966 speech before South African students, he declared:

"[People] who strike out against injustice show the highest form of courage. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build up a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Bobby Kennedy, just like how he was known by his nickname, was not a "formal" politician. He was in the truest sense of the word a humanitarian. He was sensitive to the needs of the poorest of the poor not only in the USA but around the entire world. His actions and words were heartfelt and not expressed in order to get votes so he could reach some level of status. In fact many of his words and actions were seen as unpopular and risky. Most likely the cause of his life cut so short at such a crucial time. He loved life and sought to preserve it and his choice would not have been to have his end so tragically. However he believed in the right of all to have the opportunity for a good and fruitful life. He chose to not edit himself in order to fight for that cause so valiantly.

Σύμφωνα με τη κλασική ρήση του Robert F. Kennedy (της μεγάλης χαμένης ελπίδας για την ανθρωπότητα μετά την άνανδρη δολοφονία του): Mερικοί άνθρωποι βλέπουν τα πράγματα όπως είναι και ρωτούν «γιατί». 

Άλλοι ονειρεύονται πράγματα, που ποτέ δεν υπήρξαν, και λένε «γιατί όχι;».

Oι ηγέτες έχουν την ικανότητα να βλέπουν καλλίτερα και πιο μακριά από τους άλλους. 

Για αυτό και διαμορφώνουν τα γεγονότα αντί να τους διαμορφώνουν αυτά. 

O πλανήτης αυτός θα θρηνεί για πολύ καιρό ακόμη την καταστροφική απώλειά του.