After nearly 43 years, RFK's talk still resonates
by Julie Cope SaetreStar, indystar.com
April 14th 2012
On April 4, 1968, a crowd of Hoosiers gathered at an Indianapolis park under
a cold, rainy sky, awaiting a presidential campaign rally by Robert F.
Kennedy. But in a world before smart phones and Twitter, they were unaware
of a stunning event that had occurred hours earlier: the assassination of
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
What unfolded next became the stuff of political legend: Instead of firing
up the crowd with a get-out-the-vote message, Kennedy informed the guests of
King's death -- and continued with an unrehearsed, inspiring speech that
both mourned the tragedy and called for a peaceful response of unity and
compassion.
That landmark six-minute speech -- and the pain and intense emotions of
those who heard it -- are re-created with holographic technology and live
character interpretations in "You Are There 1968: Robert F. Kennedy Speaks,"
which opens Tuesday at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center.
There, visitors will enter that misty park at 17th and Broadway streets (now
known as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park) and experience RFK's speech,
thanks to holographic images of the senator and three of his aides, all
played by actors and filmed in Los Angeles. But what really brings the
event's significance into focus are the interpreters mingling with museum
guests, playing the roles of 10 local residents who had attended the rally.
Some of those names will be familiar, such as former Indiana Supreme Court
Justice Theodore Boehm, then a lawyer and volunteer for Kennedy's campaign,
and Butler University student Diane Meyer, who would later marry
Indianapolis businessman Herb Simon. Meyer Simon explains on her website
that she skipped a Shakespeare class to attend the rally; she ended up
working on the Robert F. Kennedy Presidential Road Show, and later, worked
with U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind.
"She gave us a great interview about her experience that night and what it
meant to her to be there, and then how it really changed her life," said Dan
Shockley, the Indiana Historical Society's director of interpretation and
facilitation. "Many people were saying this night spurred them to action."
Others in the crowd are not as well known. Robert Davie plays undercover
detective Robert Jackson, assigned by the Indianapolis Police Department to
keep peace at the speech. "I've not met him yet," said Davie, who was the
director of Indianapolis Public Transportation (now known as IndyGo!). "But
I do anticipate meeting him, because I think our paths crossed."
Other people represented include a single mother who brought her children to
hear Kennedy, a teacher working to bring more African-American instructors
into the school system, and two men accompanying young people from a
community center.
Stories of all 10 characters were found after Shockley put out a call to
hear from people who had been at the event.
"We wanted to represent a good mix of races and ages and points of view," he
said. "As we kept getting more and more contact from people who were there,
we started selecting characters based on why they were there and what their
motivation was."
Twelve of the society's 30-member-plus interpretation team will play the 10
characters. Each underwent training not only on the background of the
characters, but also on how to handle potential questions from museum
visitors concerning sensitive topics such as race, politics -- even the
validity of how the facts are presented.
"Everybody sees the past through their own eyes," Shockley said. "One of the
things that we've talked about is how you talk to a visitor who is sure
about something that the facts don't bear out to be true. We've had people
try to convince us that this event took place not in Indianapolis, but in
Cincinnati. And several people have also told us that this didn't take place
at 17th and Broadway; it was actually at 38th and Illinois. That's not the
fact, but they believed in their heart that they were correct. . . . You
never want to make the visitor feel wrong. You try to give them information
that leads them to a different conclusion."
The characters are clad in period-style clothes, hairstyles and accessories,
found everywhere from Burlington Coat Factory to wig shops.
"We don't do a lot of vintage clothing, because it tends to wear out,"
Shockley said. "But it was very interesting. The '60s style is still so
represented."
Kennedy had just delivered a speech in Muncie when he was told, on his way
to the plane, that King had been shot. Riots broke out, arrests were made,
and deaths occurred in other cities, but Indianapolis remained calm. Many at
the time credited that in part to Kennedy's speech. It's that power of words
to inspire and heal that society staff hope will be conveyed to visitors.
Kennedy's speech "was off the cuff, and it was amazing," said Jeff Mills,
the society's director of exhibition design and production. "He moved those
people. He moved me 40 years later. I'm pretty cynical, and for me, at
least, it gives me hope that politics can be a measure for good."
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ears-RFK-s-talk-still-resonates?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CLiving
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