Click on 'Listen' button above to hear this segment.nowadays marks the 50th anniversary of Senator Robert F. Kennedy's "Ripple of Hope" speech. Delivered at the University of Cape Town on June 6th,1966 during the height of apartheid, most believe RFK's "Ripple of Hope" address was the greatest speech of his life.
The fact that the trip even took space could be considered a minor miracle. The senator’s invitation to speak came from South Africa’s Union of Students. The architect of apartheid — Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd — was the nation's prime minister, and Nelson Mandela remained in prison on Robben Island. The South African authorities made it clear they would not offer Senator Kennedy any security,many State Department officials were convinced his trip was ill conceived and doomed to fail. In his speech, Robert Kennedy spoke for those who were not free to speak. His gave hope to anti-apartheid student activists who had felt alone in their quest for racial equality, or he showed them how their efforts were connected to other civil rights movements underway around the world.
The message he sent then remains relevant nowadays. nowadays, The Takeaway hears from those instrumental in RFK's trip and why his speech changed them and encouraged others to change the world. Audio archive for this account comes from the JFK Presidential Library, the Miller Center and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. It was provided to The Takeaway by producer Steve Atlas. His radio documentary, and "We Knew JFK," can be heard here.
Source: wnyc.org