Hogsett announces $5M campaign, upgrades at MLK Park
At the bottom of this story, find Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 speech in Indianapolis on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis leaders on Monday announced a campaign to help raise $5 million for upgrades at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
This announcement honored U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s historic 1968 speech in Indianapolis. King was assassinated 54 years ago and, shortly after, Kennedy delivered the tragic news to people in the speech at what later became Dr. Martin Luther King Park.
“This park plays a unique role,” Mayor Joe Hogsett said at the event. “More than any other it tells a story about Indianapolis.”
The city of Indianapolis will contribute $1 million to the campaign, local leaders said Monday at the park where a memorial remembers Kennedy’s speech there on April 4, 1968.
The money would be spent for 19th Street corridor improvements that would include new sidewalks, lighting and walkways.
- Watch Robert F. Kennedy’s speech on April 4, 1968
- Special exhibit marks 54th anniversary of Kennedy speech, King assassination
While many credit Kennedy’s speech for keeping the city calm while people rioted in other large cities, Abie Robinson said he more so thanks the community for following King’s philosophy of nonviolence.
Robinson was 24 and newly returned home from Vietnam when Kennedy spoke. Robinson had fought for freedoms that he, at the time, couldn’t enjoy in America. He said Kennedy’s words moved the crowd, but King’s spirit held the most weight. “There were young people from all different communities in the city, and I think them going back with the leaders that brought them stopped some of that violence from erupting,” Robinson said.
Robinson said 54 years later we’re still reaching for King’s dream. “Until we get our hearts right our heads will never be right.”
Darryl Lockett, executive director of the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative, said at Monday’s announcement, “But, don’t think that bullet killed the movement. That bullet didn’t kill the momentum.”
Teresa Lubbers, Indiana’s commissioner for higher education, was 16 when she joined the thousand gathered to hear Kennedy speak. “Among the 50 biggest cities in the United States, Indianapolis did not see violence that night. It does not mean that we did not see grief that night,” she said at Monday’s announcement.