On Violence by RFK (1968)

“ I take this opportunity to speak to you briefly about the mindless menace of violence that stains our land and every one of our lives..It is not the concern of any one race. The victims of violence are rich or poor, young and old, famous and unknown..They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one, no matter where he lives, or what he does, can be certain who next will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on, and on, and on in this country of ours. Why? What has violence ever accomplished? Whenever another’s life is taken by another, whether it is done in the name of the law, or in defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in a attack of violence or in response to violence, whenever we tear at the fabric of our lives which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his family, whenever we do this, then the whole nation is degraded. Yet we seemingly tolerate the rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike.
Too often we honor the swagger and bluster and the wielders of force. Too often we excuse those who build their lives on the shattered dreams of other human beings. But this much is clear, violence breeds violence, repression and retaliation and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our souls. For when you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies that he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job , or your home and your family, then you also learn to confront others, not as fellow citizens, but as enemies. To be met not with cooperation but with conquest, to be subjugated and to be mastered. We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens. Alien men with whom we share a city, but not a community. Men bound to us in common dwelling but not in common effort. We only learn a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force.
Our lives on this planet are too short. The work to be done is too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in this land of ours. Of course we cannot banish it w/ a program nor w/a resolution. But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live w/ us are our brothers that share with us the same short moment of life, that they seek as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning whatever satisfaction and fulfilment that they can.” – Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, June 1968