Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. through love, compassion, and seeking justice

by Cory Unrein, Co-Owner/Publisher, Grain Valley News

     Senator Robert F. Kennedy addressed a crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana, the evening of April 4, 1968, upon the news of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. On a day when we reflect on the importance of continuing the work and vision of Dr. King, Kennedy's call against divisiveness feels particularly apropos this year. 

​     "​Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. 
     We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization … filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love. 
     My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even 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 and lawlessness, but is 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 whether they be black. 
     We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder. 
     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."
-  excerpts of speech by Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)