Robert F. Kennedy was on a campaign stop in Indianapolis on the evening of April 4, 1968, when he learned Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis. As a result, he improvised and gave one of the most poignant political speeches in American history. You can find it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kWIa8wSC0
The Landmark for Peace Memorial was unveiled at the site on September 30, 1995. I visited on a rainy May 4, 2021.
On the way from north of Indianapolis to visit the site I stopped to ask some firemen directions who were meeting on a roadside. Showing them my planned route on a map one said “Oh, you don’t want to go there. Those are some bad neighborhoods. A lot of gangs, a lot of drugs. Guns.” I said I had wanted to visit for years so another fireman suggested, “just keep riding, don’t stop”. On a bike? I can’t roll up my windows and ignore my surroundings. They suggested I change my route that kept me on busier roads “where there are a lot of people around”.
I did and found the park and memorial are worth a visit for reminding us of two men who eloquently spoke of peace and equality and “the mindless menace of violence in America”. Both were murdered in 1968.
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