Bitzer Michael Hanson

The exigence of the speech that Robert Kennedy gave that night was not only to announce the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., but to also speak about what MLK did with his life and to persuade the audience to react in a way that MLK would, rather than reacting with hatred or descent. Mr. Kennedy also gave the speech to show that not only African Americans were affected by this loss. He said that MLK was murdered by a white man and one of Mr. Kennedy's brothers was also killed by a white man. Robert Kennedy was trying to say that hatred can affect all people and that a lot of hatred doesn't know racism, it may be caused by racism at times, but hatred affects everyone no matter what ethnicity.

The immediate audience that he was talking to were the people at the actual assembly (for lack of a better word) but he was also speaking to everyone else whose lives had been affected by MLK's life and works. Robert Kennedy knew that he had to speak out the way that MLK would, and he knew that he had to make it a speech to everyone right away; before anyone else could make a speech that used MLK's assassination as a catalyst for a reason to promote more hatred. Mr. Kennedy wanted the night of MLK's assassination to be used to remember all of MLK's works, not as a night where everyone was looking to get revenge on the murder.

Robert Kennedy had restraints on the way that he had to give the speech. He had to refrain from showing a lot of emotion and had to constantly respect MLK without mourning him and without sparking any hatred in anyone. Mr. Kennedy had to keep a calm demeanor while everyone else was looking to get revenge.

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