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Ceremony To Mark Anniversary Of Senator Robert Kennedy's Speech After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death

Last updated on Tuesday, March 28, 2017

(INDIANAPOLIS) - The Kennedy King Memorial Initiative announces plans for their annual ceremony to commemorate the historic speech delivered by Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Indianapolis, April 4, 1968 on the night Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.

The anniversary will be marked with recognition of the community leaders, official and unofficial, young and old, who work to nurture the peace that Senator Kennedy sought that night. These peacemakers include members of the city's religious communities, neighborhood leaders, public officials and an eight-year-old boy who led a march against violence in the city's streets last October. The ceremony will also include the unveiling of plans for the 50th Anniversary commemoration in 2018.

Each year, the Initiative conducts an inspirational program marking the speech delivered by Senator Kennedy at 17th and Broadway streets in which he shared the tragedy of Dr. King's murder and called for hope and calm in the African-American community. This year's program will include prayer, song, and a presentation of a video recording of Senator Kennedy's speech and Dr. King's "Mountain Top" speech.

"Forty-nine years ago, Robert F. Kennedy enlightened and inspired a crowd gathered in Indianapolis on one of the darkest days in American history: the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Today, the empathy for the shared reach for equality, and that determination to overcome anger to achieve peace, must continue," said State Rep. Gregory W. Porter, President of the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative.

This year's ceremony will be held on Tuesday, April 4, at 5:00 p.m. at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, located at 17th and Broadway Street, Indianapolis. It will feature a speech by Mayor Joe Hogsett and a keynote address by the Rev. David Greene, President of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis. Faith representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Islamic communities will also speak.

The Initiative will also present its Trailblazer Award to Reese Hamilton, a third-grade student who organized a march for peace last fall following a double homicide in his neighborhood and collected donations of food and clothing to help families at Thanksgiving. The Trailblazer Award honors the memory of legendary peace pioneers such as State Rep. William Crawford, activist Mark St. John and journalist Amos Brown.

About Kennedy King Memorial Initiative

The Kennedy King Memorial Initiative is a voluntary 501(c)3 organization based in Indianapolis that works to commemorate the historic speech delivered by Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Indianapolis on the night that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The organization's mission is to keep this unique moment in history alive and to leverage the message of Dr. King and Senator Kennedy to address issues of division and injustice experienced today. With support from the Indiana Pacers Foundation in 1994, an evocative and inspirational memorial sculpture was erected in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. - kennedykingindy.org

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