Dato che un politico non crede mai in ciò che dice, resta sorpreso quando...

arrivata al cuore della gente, non dei politici ma degli umili e dei poveri dell’America degli anni sessanta, al punto da essere amato e da essere considerato una

guida, tanto che una volta appresa la notizia della sua morte improvvisa ed inspiegabile, una parte di America era smarrita attonita, disperata. Bobby era tutto

e il suo ricordo oggi è ancora vivo dentro ognuno di loro, quarant’anni dopo la tragedia. Sono partita da qui, da questa mia sconfinata ammirazione verso di lui,

una persona dalla quale la politica stessa ha da imparare, da attingere per ridefinire la sua propria essenza, dalla saggezza e dall’umiltà delle sue parole. Avrei

voluto certo essere invasa da cotanto sentimento, ma purtroppo posso solo consolarmi come tanti, potendolo celebrare e stimare. Ho continuato la mia ricerca

analizzando la retorica Hitleriana, vista dagli occhi di un illustre letterato come Thomas Mann, e Mussoliniana, per poi passare alla politica odierna, e infine alla

focalizzazione sulla comunicazione figurativa di Balla. Da tutto questo mio percorso ho concluso che le delusioni che la politica porta ed ha portato sono

innumerevoli, ma la voglia di credere è tanta, almeno da parte mia. Per questo e in virtù dell’indirizzo di studi che ho scelto ho voluto dimostrare che le parole

spesso hanno segnato la storia, in modo positivo e in modo negativo, che spesso hanno toccato l’anima di tante persone, come altre volte hanno risvegliato gli

istinti più malvagi dell’individuo umano. Tutto è comunicazione, tutto è parola, e anche se più volte modificata, più volte studiata, con fini e propositi differenti,

chi è sensibile, riesce a vedere dietro di essa la persona che la proferisce, gli intenti, gli ideali, la sua anima. Al giorno d’oggi le parole sono state falsate,

svalorizzate, impoverite, ma nonostante ciò nulla vieta di continuare ad apprezzarle, scorgendo forse non più esplicitamente, ma tra le righe il vero intento

dell’oratore. E’ vero forse che un politico non crede mai in ciò che dice, come dice Charles de Gaulle con molta ironia, stupendosi quindi al vedere che qualcun

altro poi ci creda. Ma molto spesso è successo il contrario, c’è chi ci ha creduto e forse dico forse c’è chi ci crede ancora, pertanto non credo sia il caso di

precluderci la possibilità di scoprirlo.

Bobby, a man whispering words in the sound of silence.

"There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that

never were and ask why not."

Brief Biography Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also called RFK, was one of two younger brothers

of US President John F. Kennedy and served as United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964 and a US Senator from

New York from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. He was one of President Kennedy's most trusted advisors and worked

closely with the president during the Cuban Missile Crisis. His contribution to the African-American Civil Rights Movement

is sometimes considered his greatest heritage.

After his brother's assassination in late 1963, Kennedy continued as Attorney General under President Johnson for nine

months. He resigned in September 1964 and was elected to the United States Senate from New York that November. He

broke with Johnson over the Vietnam War, among other issues.

After Eugene McCarthy nearly upset Johnson in the New Hampshire Primary in early 1968, Kennedy announced his own

campaign for president in a battle for control of the Democratic Party. Kennedy defeated McCarthy in the critical

California Primary but was shot moments after claiming victory shortly after midnight ,by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old

Palestinian, on June 5, 1968, dying June 6. On June 9, President Johnson declared an official day of national mourning in

response to the public grief following Kennedy's death.

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out

against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope...."

anniversary of Bobby’s death, and it doesn’t seem that such a long time has passed. By

This year it’s the 40 th

thinking of him, of his policy, our mind comes back to that day, the 5 of June 1968, in the Ambassador

th

Hotel in California, where he died, without any reason, becoming a hero. But it’s not only his death that

makes him a hero, it was his words, his way of speaking, that had nothing had nothing to deal with the

words commonly used by traditional politics. He was simply Bobby, not Mr. Kennedy or Mr. President, but

just a man talking to simple men, full of hope and good ideas. He’s been the man of the poorest, the

forgotten, he was always there, among thousands of persons, shaking their hands, stretching them his

hands. He has been very engaged with the struggle for civil rights, he pulled down the walls of racism,

denouncing the differences between blacks and whites, he was a friend of Martin Luther King. He was

against war, and the Vietnam war, he raised his voice against injustices end teamsters, against violence and

cruelty. But the thing that really strikes a man listening to his speeches is the fact that he doesn’t use the

common rhetoric just to convince people to vote him, or simply to approve him, but listening to him we

perceive that these words do really come from his heart, and they are so strong, so full of charity, that even

nowadays people can be fascinated. For instance,

“ Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events,

and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse

acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts

to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing

each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can

sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Here Bobby actually believes everyone contribute to change the world and makes it. Of course, only few people will have the greatness to change history, and

this is true, but this is not a valuable reason to feel ourselves aimless, we do have something to struggle for, something to believe in. And Bobby assures us, that

every single man is absolutely necessary, indispensable by his acting in changing history. Because we shape our history, every time we stand up for something,

we believe in something fair, something praiseworthy, we give a tiny hope to someone. That’s why we have to gather our though little drops in the ocean, for

the welfare of mankind. There’s a song, that is also part of the soundtrack of the movie Bobby, dedicated to Bob Kennedy, saying that “the words of the

prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls, whispered in the sound of silence”, and I think that’s truly what Bobby does, he writes his words

on the hearts, on the innermost of ourselves, on the most hidden and sometimes bad place of our mind. He addresses also to those in despair, saying that

oppression doesn’t make revolutions. The purpose of men is to be revolutionary, and only when hope replaces resignation, you can achieve your goal, and

change your life. "Men without hope, resigned to despair and oppression, do not make revolutions. It is when expectation replaces submission, when despair is

touched with the awareness of possibility, that the forces of human desire and the passion for justice are unloosed.".

After his brother’s election victory in 1960 Bobby became United States Attorney General,

and this was the period of greatest power of the office. He started a real crusade against

organized crime and Teamsters and he supported civil rights. He was to maintain this

promise to racial equality even into his own presidential campaign, extending his firm sense

of social justice to all areas of national life and into matters of foreign and economic policy.

After the assassination of President Kennedy, he undertook a tour of South Africa in which

he defended the cause of the anti-Apartheid movement. In an interview with Look

Magazine he said:

"At the University of Natal in Durban, I was told the church to which most of the white

population belongs teaches apartheid as a moral necessity. A questioner declared that few

churches allow black Africans to pray with the white because the Bible says that is the way it

should be, because God created Negroes to serve. 'But suppose God is black', I replied.

'What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and

God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?' There was no

answer. Only silence."

This is a way he uses to demonstrate that racism is not only a plague of humanity, but it is also a very silly thing, because there’s no reason beyond the fact that

people must be divided or classified. Above all if this is made in the name of religion, in fact he launches a provocation: let’s suppose God is black, because we

do not know actually the color of his skin, we would go to Heaven with the guilt of having badly threaten black people, we would look Him in His face, and what

will our reaction be? There are things that can’t be stood anymore, and that’s what Bobby wants to say, there are things common to all human beings, that

can’t be separated. There are values capable of passing over everything, one of them is faith. His faith his strong, his policy resents a lot of his catholic

background, he’s very involved in following Church’s doctrine. Throughout his life, Bobby made reference to his faith, how it educated every area of his life,

and how it gave him the strength to re-enter politics following the assassination of his elder brother. In March 1968 Bobby declared his candidacy for the

presidential elections, realizing that he was really loved and appreciated by a huge quantity of people. Poor people even kept his picture on the walls, it was a

moral duty for him to run for these elections. He was their hero, their hope, their future, he couldn’t draw back. Bobby declared his candidacy on March 16,

1968, stating: "I do not run for the Presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies. I run because I am convinced that this country is on a

perilous course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I feel that I'm obliged to do all I can." He stood on a receipt of racial and

economic justice, non-aggression in foreign policy, decentralization of power and social improvement. A crucial element to his campaign was an engagement

with the young, whom he identified as being the future of a reinvigorated American society based on partnership and equality.

On April 4, 1968, Bobby learned of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and gave a heartfelt, spontaneous speech in Indianapolis's inner city, in which he

called for a reconciliation between the races. Riots broke out in 60 cities in the wake of King's death, but not in Indianapolis, a fact many attribute to the effect

of this speech.

Bob Kennedy’s speech on the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968

Ladies and Gentlemen - I’m only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because… I

have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people

who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight

in Memphis, Tennessee. Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow

human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the

United States, it’s perhaps well to ask what kind of nation we are and what direction we want to move

in. For those of you who are black - considering the evidence, evidently is that there were white people