The Southern Male Democrat

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?

Can you tell me where he’s gone?

He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young

I just looked around and he’s gone

Didn’t you love the things that they stood for?

Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?

And we’ll be free

Some day soon, it’s gonna be one day

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?

Can you tell me where he’s gone?

I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill

With Abraham, Martin, and John

– Dion

The Dion song, Abraham, Martin and John has always made me yearn for leaders that I only know through history books. The song fills me with a profound sense of loss, even though I was born a little more than a year after Bobby died. (And for some reason, he has always been “Bobby” to me, not RFK or Senator Kennedy.)

I vividly remember the moment that my lifelong fascination with Martin, Bobby and John started. In the second grade at Brentwood Elementary, I was already a bookworm when I found the Associated Press’ official photo book from that awful weekend in November 1963. There weren’t many words beyond photo captions, but somehow the pageantry of a state funeral captivated me.

I carried the book to and from school for two weeks and couldn’t put it down. I renewed it from the library twice. Soon, I began reading anything about the assasination of President Kennedy that I could get my hands on. By the tender age of 10, I was arguing whatever conspiracy theory I just read with any adult who would listen.

Somewhere along the way I learned of Dr. King’s murder and then Bobby’s. Many of my most formative years were spent trying to solve these murders through vociferous reading by flashlight late at night under the covers of my bed. (I didn’t get a life until a little bit later. )

As I grew up, I also grew tired of chasing the killers down literary rabbit holes. I learned to accept that there are many things about all three murders that we’ll just never know. Instead, I began studying the lives, teachings, writings and speeches of Martin, Bobby and John. I didn’t know it at the time, but these political values that I learned were to serve as a foundation to my life’s passion and professional calling.

My idealism is definitely tempered. Martin, Bobby and John all had major flaws that have come to light over the years. Camelot is largely a myth put forward by the Kennedy public relations machine. And yet, the myth of all three men is counter-balanced by the fact that through a historic combination of charisma and inspiring rhetoric, these leaders made the American people look beyond their personal interests to the greater good.

This spring marks the 40^th anniversary of one of the darkest periods in American political history. Dr. King was shot and killed on April 4^th, 1968 and Bobby was shot just two months later on June 5^th before succumbing to his wounds a day later .

We’ll probably never see leaders like either of them again. That is partly the result of the times in which we live. None of these men could have survived having their foibles aired on Fox News, mischaracterized on talk radio and blogged about on the internet.

Yet their words and lives are still relevant today. As the parade of documentaries rolls across your television this spring, take a second to watch and perhaps learn something new. Take a second to be inspired by their words. Take that inspiration and turn it into action. Learn the political issues. Make your political choices based on as much knowledge as possible, and as little perception as possible.

Taking such a simple action is the greatest homage that any of us can pay to Martin, Bobby and John.

Thanks for reading. It’s good to be back!