Robert F. Kennedy

Name: On the Mindless Menace of Violence
Author: Robert F. Kennedy

On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

Summary

“On the Mindless Menace of Violence”, published in 1968, is a work by Robert F. Kennedy. It explores elements such as violence, own advancement and violence breeds.

Quotes from On the Mindless Menace of Violence (Robert F. Kennedy)

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ I have saved this one opportunity, my only event of today, to speak briefly to you about the mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and every one of our lives.
It is not the concern of any one race. The victims of violence are black and white, rich and 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 will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ Whenever any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily—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 an attack of violence or in response to violence—whenever we tear at the fabric of life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause can ever be stilled by an assassin's bullet.
No wrongs have ever been righted by riots or civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ Too often we honor swagger and bluster and the wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their very conduct invited them.
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression breeds retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ 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 he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or 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 mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look to our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they 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 in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence (1968)

“ Surely we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again. ”

Robert F. Kennedy

Summary

Quotes from On the Mindless Menace of Violence (Robert F. Kennedy)

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