Kennedy - King Memorial
Posted by: 
Muirwoody
N 39° 47.449 W 086° 08.780
16S E 573091 N 4404888
A memorial park where Robert F. Kennedy announced to a large group that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.
Waymark Code: WM70
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 08/17/2005
Views: 133
On April 4, 1968 as a stop on his campaign for the Presidency, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was scheduled to speak to a group of 2,500 mostly African-American's at a neighborhood park in Indianapolis. Just before he appeared he was told about Dr. King's assassination - nobody in the crowd had heard about it yet. Although his security staff urged him to cancel, Kennedy went on to the crowd who had waited for 2 hours in a cold rain. He began by saying "I have very sad news for all of you. Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight." The crowds reaction was intense - suffering and crying. Kennedy urged the spectators to not "meet violence with violence" and urged them to go home and pray for Dr. King's family. His calming words were, in part, credited with Indianapolis being the only major urban city in the north that did not experience riots following Dr. King's death.
The Memorial, A Landmark for Peace, designed by Indiana artist Greg Perry includes the pieces sculpted by Daniel Edwards and is located near where Sen. Kennedy made his speech one block west of 17th St. and College Ave.
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