I lived through these times. JFK, MLK and RFK. And, 56 years on, they still move me with profound emotion. They were ‘existential heroes’. Thank you Steve Schmidt for so eloquently reminding us all of the meaning of purpose. Abraham, Martin and John (and Bobby). Although Abraham was long gone before my time; I miss them all.
Below is something Paul McCartney wrote about Beyoncé covering his song Blackbird. And although it bothers me to bring up the moron we have running for Governor of North Carolina, he has attacked Beyoncé as a “devil-worshipping skank.”
Here is what Paul McCartney wrote:
I am so happy with Beyoncé’s version of my song 'Blackbird'. I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place. I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!
I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it. I told her the pleasure was all mine and I thought she had done a killer version of the song. When I saw the footage on the television in the early 60s of the black girls being turned away from school, I found it shocking and I can’t believe that still in these days there are places where this kind of thing is happening right now. Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud.
Hearing these two speeches, from two men assassinated within three months of each other, makes me think about the legacies of JKF, MKL and RKF. The first two, tragic as it was to lose them so young and through violence, had the platform to make lasting imprints on our national spirit and national laws.
Robert Kennedy had such eloquence and such promise, wee can only imagine what might have been had he lived to be elected president in 1968, instead of Nixon.
(I just realized that his wife Ethel is still alive-- age 95. In their 18 years of marriage, the Kennedys had 11 children, one of whom is now running for president as a spoiler candidate.)
Thank you Steve for reminding us of Robert F Kennedy’s courage , eloquence & grief over the assassination of Dr King. But what is so profound is how relevant his words are today to this country that has been torn apart by the ugliness & racism of Donald Trump . Trump has given permission to for every person with hatred in their heart to proudly expose it & vote for it. Shame on RFKJr who has turned his back on his father & uncle ‘s ambitions for a more just , enlightened society.
Thanks Steve for reminding us of what April 4th signifies.
The ending (last three minutes) of this stirring speech on April 3rd 1968 is cosmically prophetic. King describes the pilot of the plane that brought him to Memphis, checking the plane carefully because of threats, and making sure it is guarded all night. When they landed in Memphis, King says: some began " . . . to talk about what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers. I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter to me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody I'd like to live a long life . . . But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. He's allowed me to go up the mountain; and I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you . . . . "
Hours later, he was taken from us.
I'm going to listen to RFK's words now, even as we are all too aware that his son is currently working at cross purposes to his legacy.
I was in my junior year in high school when John Kennedy was assassinated. The terror, the loss, the unbearable sadness overwhelmed. It seemed unfathomable that it could happen again and again to leaders I admired intensely. It was crushing to a young girl looking toward a better world as imagined by these inspirational leaders. I will remember always how this terrible time felt. And now there is Trump!
I am going to keep writing about Republican nominee Mark Robinson of North Carolina because it is important he is defeated in November.
He has said the Civil Rights Movement “was a communist plot to subvert capitalism and end freedoms.”
Sadly, in North Carolina, some polls show him winning here. The Republican Party, of which I was once a member, should be consigned to the ash heap of history for nominating such morons.
The night Dr King was assassinated, my friend, Janet, called to tell me. I had marched and been active in civil rights from an early age in my home town in Ohio, serving, in hs on the Junior Human Relations Council. Dr King was one of my early role models. It was a devastating time. And yes, Bobby Kennedy’s speech was, just 4.5 years after his brother’s death and the push Dr King had given to move The March and rights along made it all the more moving, meaningful. How did we get to now? To hate? So much hate? Poverty? Your trip, Steve, this day, the wars in so many places? John Lewis (z”l) too is in my head to push on. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, too a heroine from the ‘60s who continues to educate. We need good models to show the way it was and how to not give up. Evil must not win.
Worse: he was a mensch, working on and for low income energy issues. He changed. Expediency go set himself apart? How does one become and hold values so different now?
What do you think about Marianne Williamson picking up from MLK Jr. and calling for the Beloved Community for real? It's something good people could be signatory to that would create a forcefield, instead of being the gadflies we are now. Here she is talking so beautifully about MLK Jr.: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/publish/post/140722775
It grieves me to suggest a small correction to your introduction, not because it indicates a major error, but because it forces me to remember that those two men WERE the finest of patriots, but were taken from us far too soon.
Religious heroes like MLK, or a mystical hero like Lincoln, and a Camelot-esque RFK are not what we should be concerned with. They are merely male cameos of the universe. It is the women like Virgiina Woolf ( but there are no equivalents) whom we should be reading
Let it be known that I am a male, though named Tracy: that is important for reading my comment .
A definition of what authentic Greek tragedy is normally thought of? It brought us MLK & RFK, but not JFK. ( RFK would love what I am saying here, for enough time has passed for his spirit, if indeed spirits do exist, to see the truth of what I am saying).
A hero has to have eloquence and enormous, mythic depth, so that eliminates JFK.
RFK spoke eloquently but only of men. I wish he had lived longer because I am sure he could have included one woman, a woman of whom I shall speak..
The stars know MLK and RFK had that depth which is neccesary in order to deserve some fame in the sentient universe. Even though they are merely men., and not women , they deserve "mention".
The rest of us ordinary men are the protoplasm who make great men "famous". Protoplasm, aka, ordinary men like us who are reading this column, is neccesary if Extraorinary men are to be recorded in some timeless, mythic roll call .. .
I am a male speaking on behalf of women as being worthy of superceding Men in that mythic roll call.. Indeed,yes, I have a woman's name similar to the starlets of Hollywood,, but it is a name that is typical in medieval Ireland. For the edification of those who have no Gaelic knowldege, please do look it up.
I am a man, and I am like an "Everyman" as thought of in great literature, such as Sheridan made famous.
Virginia Woolf, whom I am sure Steve Schmidt has never, ever read, is far beyond the significance of RFK and MLK, and I only wish I could believe he had read her works.. If he has, let him say so. What I am talking about is something far beyond the thing humans call "Time". Woolf is timeless. She is true ART, and ART is closer to truth than anything..
I lived through these times. JFK, MLK and RFK. And, 56 years on, they still move me with profound emotion. They were ‘existential heroes’. Thank you Steve Schmidt for so eloquently reminding us all of the meaning of purpose. Abraham, Martin and John (and Bobby). Although Abraham was long gone before my time; I miss them all.
Below is something Paul McCartney wrote about Beyoncé covering his song Blackbird. And although it bothers me to bring up the moron we have running for Governor of North Carolina, he has attacked Beyoncé as a “devil-worshipping skank.”
Here is what Paul McCartney wrote:
I am so happy with Beyoncé’s version of my song 'Blackbird'. I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place. I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!
I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it. I told her the pleasure was all mine and I thought she had done a killer version of the song. When I saw the footage on the television in the early 60s of the black girls being turned away from school, I found it shocking and I can’t believe that still in these days there are places where this kind of thing is happening right now. Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud.
Hearing these two speeches, from two men assassinated within three months of each other, makes me think about the legacies of JKF, MKL and RKF. The first two, tragic as it was to lose them so young and through violence, had the platform to make lasting imprints on our national spirit and national laws.
Robert Kennedy had such eloquence and such promise, wee can only imagine what might have been had he lived to be elected president in 1968, instead of Nixon.
(I just realized that his wife Ethel is still alive-- age 95. In their 18 years of marriage, the Kennedys had 11 children, one of whom is now running for president as a spoiler candidate.)
Thank you Steve for reminding us of Robert F Kennedy’s courage , eloquence & grief over the assassination of Dr King. But what is so profound is how relevant his words are today to this country that has been torn apart by the ugliness & racism of Donald Trump . Trump has given permission to for every person with hatred in their heart to proudly expose it & vote for it. Shame on RFKJr who has turned his back on his father & uncle ‘s ambitions for a more just , enlightened society.
Thanks Steve for reminding us of what April 4th signifies.
The ending (last three minutes) of this stirring speech on April 3rd 1968 is cosmically prophetic. King describes the pilot of the plane that brought him to Memphis, checking the plane carefully because of threats, and making sure it is guarded all night. When they landed in Memphis, King says: some began " . . . to talk about what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers. I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter to me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody I'd like to live a long life . . . But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. He's allowed me to go up the mountain; and I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you . . . . "
Hours later, he was taken from us.
I'm going to listen to RFK's words now, even as we are all too aware that his son is currently working at cross purposes to his legacy.
I was in my junior year in high school when John Kennedy was assassinated. The terror, the loss, the unbearable sadness overwhelmed. It seemed unfathomable that it could happen again and again to leaders I admired intensely. It was crushing to a young girl looking toward a better world as imagined by these inspirational leaders. I will remember always how this terrible time felt. And now there is Trump!
I am going to keep writing about Republican nominee Mark Robinson of North Carolina because it is important he is defeated in November.
He has said the Civil Rights Movement “was a communist plot to subvert capitalism and end freedoms.”
Sadly, in North Carolina, some polls show him winning here. The Republican Party, of which I was once a member, should be consigned to the ash heap of history for nominating such morons.
The night Dr King was assassinated, my friend, Janet, called to tell me. I had marched and been active in civil rights from an early age in my home town in Ohio, serving, in hs on the Junior Human Relations Council. Dr King was one of my early role models. It was a devastating time. And yes, Bobby Kennedy’s speech was, just 4.5 years after his brother’s death and the push Dr King had given to move The March and rights along made it all the more moving, meaningful. How did we get to now? To hate? So much hate? Poverty? Your trip, Steve, this day, the wars in so many places? John Lewis (z”l) too is in my head to push on. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, too a heroine from the ‘60s who continues to educate. We need good models to show the way it was and how to not give up. Evil must not win.
Please post the transcripts below the video
There's no watch on You Tube.
It blows my mind that Junior could think he was anywhere near his dad in anyway whatsoever.
Worse: he was a mensch, working on and for low income energy issues. He changed. Expediency go set himself apart? How does one become and hold values so different now?
What do you think about Marianne Williamson picking up from MLK Jr. and calling for the Beloved Community for real? It's something good people could be signatory to that would create a forcefield, instead of being the gadflies we are now. Here she is talking so beautifully about MLK Jr.: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/publish/post/140722775
It grieves me to suggest a small correction to your introduction, not because it indicates a major error, but because it forces me to remember that those two men WERE the finest of patriots, but were taken from us far too soon.
Religious heroes like MLK, or a mystical hero like Lincoln, and a Camelot-esque RFK are not what we should be concerned with. They are merely male cameos of the universe. It is the women like Virgiina Woolf ( but there are no equivalents) whom we should be reading
Women like Virginia Woolf ( there are none other in literature of her equivalent) deserve our attention. Not heroes.
Let's talk about "To The Lighthouse " by Virginia Woolf, and not only "great men" such as MLK and RFK
Let it be known that I am a male, though named Tracy: that is important for reading my comment .
A definition of what authentic Greek tragedy is normally thought of? It brought us MLK & RFK, but not JFK. ( RFK would love what I am saying here, for enough time has passed for his spirit, if indeed spirits do exist, to see the truth of what I am saying).
A hero has to have eloquence and enormous, mythic depth, so that eliminates JFK.
RFK spoke eloquently but only of men. I wish he had lived longer because I am sure he could have included one woman, a woman of whom I shall speak..
The stars know MLK and RFK had that depth which is neccesary in order to deserve some fame in the sentient universe. Even though they are merely men., and not women , they deserve "mention".
The rest of us ordinary men are the protoplasm who make great men "famous". Protoplasm, aka, ordinary men like us who are reading this column, is neccesary if Extraorinary men are to be recorded in some timeless, mythic roll call .. .
I am a male speaking on behalf of women as being worthy of superceding Men in that mythic roll call.. Indeed,yes, I have a woman's name similar to the starlets of Hollywood,, but it is a name that is typical in medieval Ireland. For the edification of those who have no Gaelic knowldege, please do look it up.
I am a man, and I am like an "Everyman" as thought of in great literature, such as Sheridan made famous.
Virginia Woolf, whom I am sure Steve Schmidt has never, ever read, is far beyond the significance of RFK and MLK, and I only wish I could believe he had read her works.. If he has, let him say so. What I am talking about is something far beyond the thing humans call "Time". Woolf is timeless. She is true ART, and ART is closer to truth than anything..