CAL THOMAS COMMENTARY JUNE 6, 2018
FIFTY YEARS AGO, SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT IN LOS ANGELES, ROBERT F. KENNEDY, WHO HAD JUST WON THE CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT, WAS GUNNED DOWN IN A KITCHEN AS HE WAS LEAVING THE AMBASSADOR HOTEL. SIRHAN SIRHAN WAS CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON. KENNEDY’S OLDEST SON RECENTLY VISITED SIRHAN AND BELIEVES HE WAS NOT ALONE — AND MAYBE EVEN NOT GUILTY — OF MURDERING HIS FATHER.
IN ANY EVENT 1968 WAS A SEMINAL YEAR IN AMERICAN POLITICS. IN ADDITION TO KENNEDY’S MURDER, MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. WAS ALSO KILLED. LYNDON JOHNSON ANNOUNCED IN MARCH HE WOULD NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION. RISING ANTI-VIETNAM WAR SENTIMENT WAS THE REASON. RIOTS AT THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN CHICAGO WOULD FOLLOW THAT SUMMER.
THE DIVISIONS CREATED IN THE 1960S, AND ESPECIALLY 1968, CONTINUE TODAY. THERE IS TOO MUCH HATRED OF FELLOW AMERICANS WHO MAY DIFFER ON POLITICAL ISSUES. AND HATRED CAN LEAD TO MURDER. IT IS WHY JESUS SAID THAT IF YOU HARBOR HATRED IN YOUR HEART IT IS AS GOOD AS MURDERING THE PERSON.
WILL WE EVER RECOVER FROM THE WOUNDS OF 1968? I DON’T KNOW, BUT WE HAD BETTER. I’M CAL THOMAS IN WASHINGTON.
