Elijah Lewis: “30 years ago this week, Bobby Kennedy was taken from us by an assassin's bullet. I remember that night all too clearly…”

“30 years ago this week, Bobby Kennedy was taken from us by an assassin's bullet. I remember that night all too clearly, and I still feel the sadness of the loss. Today I want to take a moment to honor this public servant who was so committed to the cause of social justice and fairness. It was my great pleasure, my great honor, to have worked with Bobby Kennedy, to have known him. As I worked with this man, I grew to respect, admire and love him. He cared so much and he cared so deeply. He was a man so full of life, so driven by a vision for a better world. He had a fierce determination to enforce the civil rights laws of this Nation. And later he became a one-man crusade across the country, speaking out against hunger and poverty. To paraphrase his brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy 'saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.' This man, this great man that we lost when he was so young, he spoke from his heart and from his gut. He had the ability and the capacity to look beyond the accepted way. This was a man who took off his jacket, his coat. He had the ability to loosen his tie and to travel outside of the usual circles. He went to visit poor blacks in the heart of the Mississippi delta and gave them hope. He visited low-income whites in Appalachia to bring them encouragement. He went to the barrios in the Southwest and he brought them inspiration.”