Those were the final words spoken in public by Martin Luther King Jr. The following evening, this noble advocate of non-violent protest was hit in the neck by a single bullet from an assassin’s rifle as he stood on a motel balcony, pronounced dead barely one hour later. The killing of this civil rights leader convulsed the nation, sparking riots and exposing again the depth of divisions over race, war in Vietnam, and widely-differing cultural attitudes.
The US is a violent place – founded by revolutionaries, awash with guns, turbulence often bubbling beneath the surface. Four of its 45 presidents have been murdered. Once again – as in King’s era – there are fears it is being torn apart. The fissures seem so wide that one side’s vision of the American dream looks like a grotesque nightmare for their rival tribe. There is nervous chat about possible civil war – as I’ve heard from citizens while reporting there – with the divisions intensified by people inhabiting separate media bubbles, fuelling fear and loathing of foes.
This is the backdrop to the gunning down of Kirk, who deftly rode the waves of what passes for political debate today, racking up views on social media while going on to campuses to confront critics and defend his beliefs. There was much to dislike about his politics – including his defence of the insane US gun laws that lead to thousands of needless deaths each year, including now his own – yet his life exemplified his proclaimed belief in democracy and free speech.
square JAMES BALL Charlie Kirk's killing has shown Trump up as the self-serving hypocrite he is
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Analysts suggest this rise started in 2016 – the year of Trump’s first election as President. Often it comes from the far right, unlike in the 1960s when perpetrated mainly by left-wing extremists. There is one other key difference with the previous explosion of political violence: the reaction of leaders, who should calm tensions instead of stoking them. Tragically, their President responded to Kirk’s death by listing only violence against Republicans and lashing out at “the radical left”, blaming its rhetoric “for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today” and threatening revenge – though he did, a day later, remind his supporters that Kirk had been “an advocate of non-violence” and said “that’s the way I’d like to see people respond”.
Bobby Kennedy – who had never spoken about the shooting of his brother – broke news of King’s killing to a rally while campaigning for the White House. Admitting he knew that hearts could be filled with hatred after such dreadful events, he said they all faced a choice: between moving towards greater polarisation “filled with hatred toward one another” or to “make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.”
Two months later, Kennedy was shot dead. And today, the extraordinary nation that gave us King, Kennedy and Kirk stands at a similar bloody crossroads, confronting that same fateful choice between reaching out to rivals or withdrawing into bunkers and hatred. But do its current leaders have the wisdom to soothe the wounds in this unfolding American tragedy? Sadly, I fear not.
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