I Get It Now

I get it now. I finally really get it. The "it" in question being why certain intelligent people consider John Kennedy to have been a great man.

I've always considered Kennedy to have been great in some regards, especially concerning his crippling illnesses and injuries which did not dissuade him from assuming awesome responsibilities and assuming great personal risks in service of his country.

From another perspective, he was a lecherous and debauched dilettante, but human beings are complicated like that.

I've written many times before about how the death cult surrounding JFK skews any objective appraisal of him. But it's not his fault he was assassinated; surely he would rather have lived than to ensure his perpetual popularity via martyrdom.

But the things JFK did have control over are what ought to define his legacy. And I've just rediscovered his civil rights speech from June 11, 1963.

And I've just realized how revolutionary it was, how much it meant to people of all types, and how it would be just as righteous had he lived to be 95 years old. In which case he would still be alive.

Kennedy gave this speech with less than 24 hours notice to the TV networks; it was not planned. It was not even written. When Kennedy saw people being killed in broad daylight because a black man tried to enroll in a college, he finally got it.

This was a man who could not possibly relate to blacks, but on this night he showed himself to be a man with a healthy moral limit. He gave this speech in spontaneity and anger. Or perhaps righteous indignation would be a better term.

When I watch this speech, I get it. I get why Nas says, on the Nigger album, "what do niggers do? we just / hang up pictures of Martin, JFK, and Jesus."

I understand now why when, 5 months after this speech, Kennedy had his head blown off of his body while sitting next to his wife in broad daylight in the Confederacy, people naturally assumed it was because of this speech. I get it.

If we can disenthrall ourselves from his murder, and imagine that we are watching this speech live, we can appreciate this man's greatness. This speech lost him millions of votes. He knew this. But he still gave it. I urge you to watch by clicking the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS4Qw4lIckg