Martin Luther King Jr.

[yeajinchoi]

We haven't talked about the speech in class yet but I'm still posting this on the board.
While I was reading the speech, I thought that it was a little bit biased. In the speech that Robert F. Kennedy presented, he tells those who are black to understand and basically forgive the white people for all their racism and slavery. I know that in some parts, he does mention the society of white people and black people improving the world as one nation but I believe that if he told the African Americans to understand and forgive, he should tell the white men to stop "bullying" the African Americans and try to understand them as well. But he doesn't. So that made me think that the speech was impartial.

What do you think? Do you think that Robert F. Kennedy's speech was completely fair to both sides?

[JustinK.]

Yes, this speech was favoring the white people.
-First of all Robert F. Kennedy was a white himself, so he probably won't accuse his own race.
-At the time, white people dominated. Even though there were many free African Americans, but on the other hand there are tons of slaved African Americans that were owned by whites. I guess if Robert F. Kennedy's speech was favoring the black people, he will be in danger, since he is surrounded by white people.

[lukejoo1092]

Yeah, I think you can think like so in that way. But considering the circumstances, after all, he was only notified of the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated earlier that day, he wouldn't have had that much time to prepare a perfect speech that would consider both sides of the audience.

At the time, King was an icon, a symbol to mostly black people, not white. Many whites would have admired him as well but more of the blacks would have felt proud for having a such man who is of their disrespected ethnicity. So it were the blacks would have been more emotional, more shocked, more dangerous to arouse a riot.

Therefore, it would have been Kennedy's major priority to calm down the black people so that they don't make a mistake in causing more conflicts between both sides. It wouldn't have been too late for him to ask for understanding from the whites after he had successfully calmed down the blacks.

Then again, it could have been that he simply made a biased speech but I believe it was more of a hasty situation that made him either forget or assess who needs to be helped first.

[sorn]

I also think that the speech was unfair too. But in the other hand I don't think that the white people would care about the situation because it has nothing to do with them. If Robert F. Kennedy was talking too much about the situation, he would end up not being favorable to the white people (his followers). That was why he had to give a biased speech.

[gb1708]

I think the speech is fair because he said all people in America wanted to replace violence, lawlessness, division, injustice by justice, love, unity,... so he means every people want that and do everything to take this for America.I don't think it is biased because only black people was treated unfair and got slavery so it is fair to talk about suffering life of black people.

[sazad100]

I think that it was mainly referring to the black people and in this speech the main goal of Robert F Kennedy was to calm the African Americans down as they lost a very important leader. But he didn't prepare a speech for this event as Luke said, he gave a good speech. So he could not mention the things that the white people should do.

[ExtremelyExtremeExtremist]

This speech was unfair to both sides. As Luke said, he was not prepared but somehow made an effective speech to calm blacks from being hysterical. But he only ordered blacks not to practice violence, but not ordered whites to abuse blacks (which is a main reason why there are inequality and why blacks get angry).
The speech was effective for a short time but as time passed, violence and racism still exist.

[sergeyfen]

It was kind of bias, but i think all he wanted to say is no one would forgive each other especially white people. He thought that African American would forgive everything what white people have done to African Americans. Martin Luther King was good addition to that forgiveness as he favored non violence protests.

[brandonina]

Yes, I also think the speech was somewhat biased but I think Kennedy did a decent job of calming the both sides, the blacks and the whites. I think he indirectly chastises the whites' actions by mentioning how the States went through difficult times and how they need to cease violence, hatred, and lawlessness that are caused by them. Well, this pretty much tells whites to stop "bullying" the blacks even though Kennedy didn't really mention it during the speech.

When he tells the blacks to understand and forgive the whites, as other members mentioned, he would have tried to prevent putting himself into danger by not mentioning about whites' deeds too much since he himself is also white and to prevent any uprisings. Therefore, I believe he tells blacks to forgive and understand the whites. But overall, I think he's pretty fair to both sides.

[irin]

I think speech was tell me black people has hard time they need love and justice. But his speech said hthe country will forgiveness to white people what they done to African Americans. He want to forgive ness to white people and he want to understand white people.

[|Ruchira|]

Well, that is a good point you raise Yeajin, dahhling! But, I think at the speech only black people were present and a few white people who were supporters of equal rights. So, Kennedy really didn't need to address the racist people's perspective in his speech. But, I do thing he should've talked about it a little more, like mentioning some of the things the racists have done, how Kennedy feels about those things and how others can response to the hate.

[bilal15]

well i also think this speech was unfair that he only mentioned the black people to be calmed he should have also said to the white people to be not racist so there is a bit of inequality in his speech but as he wasn't prepared so maybe somehow he made this effective speech but he should have included the white people.

[linnie]

Well, I believe it is biased as well, but it is right thing to be biased here. Since King was murdered, it was priority to calm the black people and support them so there won't be any more big problems. If they knew that King was murdered and Kennedy didn't mention anything about it, they would be mad. King was like hero for black people, right? So if one's leader dies, people will be outraged and try to kill or avenge the killer. This will bring big problems.

Other point is that white did things that weren't right. And Kennedy knew it. It isn't right to segregate people based on their race. He was condemning the deed of white people. This is helping and supporting black people and at the same time, trying to prevent racism and bring peace by criticizing white people's act.

[nadiraamalina]

Kennedy probably had other issues that he needed to address. The news of Martin Luther King's death should've come as a huge shock to him, and he probably added the references to his death minutes before the speech.
I think you should also think about the time period as well. African Americans were not well received by the whites, and I think it was very brave of Kennedy to try to appeal to the African Americans at all. Kennedy never raised the white people above the black people. He referred to blacks and whites as equals, who have made mistakes in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

[jisu25]

true that the speech only talked about African Americans, so it can be biased, but I agree with bilal that Robert was not mentioning anything about white people not being racist. People are all the same and it doesn't matter about nationality or what color you are. That is a fact that nobody can object about.