RFK children speak out on Sirhan Sirhan parole

President John F Kennedy had been away for only four and a half years when the unthinkable happened again Senator Robert Kennedy His younger brother was also felled by an assassin's bullet The shooting shocked the nation and devastated his young family now five decades later

sirhan

sirhan

and Robert Kennedy's

children

find themselves at a crossroads December 53 ago, members of the Kennedy family gathered for their first Christmas without Robert Kennedy. His wife Ethel had just arrived from the hospital introducing the family to the newest member of the Kennedy clan. This is Rory. Can you say his name? She was born six months after her father's murder.

Her brothers and sisters have vague memories of that Christmas. My mother was a single mother of 11

children

, ages 16 to a baby who had just seen her husband killed. She is tough. She is tough. She is the person. toughest i have ever known i ever met carrie kennedy she was only nine chris only four with sticks or blurry images brief flashes of her father but for kennedy moments like that and the futures lost when a 24 year old killer named sirhan surin took him took all the politics all those times when you when you love your father when my brother david died where is my father when my brother michael died where is my father when i got married and walked down the aisle alone we've all been through thousands of hours therapy 28-day programs all kinds of things to recover from the harm and crime we live with every day During the spring of 1968, New York Senator Robert Kennedy had been campaigning in California for the Democratic presidential nomination When he was running, remember the crowds?

I remember his followers, I remember the crowds, yes, many, many crowds, he had a war, he wanted an end, no more Vietnam, he was in pain, he wanted to heal in our country, if we allow this antagonism and almost hatred to control all of our mutual emotions. We're just going to be in a great difficulty that was taken away from all of us, not just Chris and me, but you and everyone in this audience, give me your help and we will win the primary here in the state of California, we will win the election in November and we will make a new day for humanity with your help.

Thank you so much. It wasn't a given that the state's winner-take-all primary was a must-win, but Kennedy still took time from the campaign to take his kids to Disneyland. I went with John Glenn and I especially remember taking this trip. in rocket with jungle with john glenn, it was a lot of fun and then just a couple of days later he left in the early morning hours of June 5, kennedy claimed victory over both Senator Eugene McCarthy and Vice President Hubert Humphrey my thanks to all of you and now let's go to Chicago and win there. Although Chris and Kerry were fast asleep when the race was cancelled, I woke up the next morning and turned on the TV. to watch cartoons and the flash comes on, you know, sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, that's how I found out that Sirhan Sirhon had shot my father.

Could a doctor come here? There are many places where you can see the The consequences in that kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel are not going to be shown here. The Kennedys have seen enough of this. I remember going into my room and lying on my bed and praying for dad and praying for our family and then also praying for him. The guy who killed him prayed that they wouldn't kill him because he didn't want anyone else to die like my father had died, so the day you found out that your father had been killed, you prayed for his house immediately, immediately you still pray. for him, no, in April, sir, a Palestinian Christian from Jordan admitted that he was angry with Kennedy for supporting Israel.

A rage that evidence later revealed had been brewing for some time. He wrote in his diary that he wanted to kill dad a thousand times. Bobby Kennedy writes. He must die a thousand times before going to the hotel and killing our father. This is a totally premeditated political terrorist murder. Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die in the California gas chamber, but when the state briefly banned capital punishment, his sentence was commuted to life in prison and that meant every few years he would be

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d. I believe that I am innocent of this crime and that I did not commit this crime for more than five decades.

Sirhan Sirhan has maintained that he does not remember the shooting. he didn't shoot robert kennedy or kill him he said someone else did it he says well maybe you don't believe it at all i know he's a murderer so it's not a big leap to believe he's a liar 15 times he was denied

parole

mainly because of which the california parole board saw as a lack of genuine remorse. i feel like i'm a parrot, you know, just repeating, repeating the same thing, you know, refrain, i'm sorry, i feel remorse, but last august, a At age 77, Sir Han Sirhan got another chance and this time things had changed.

A recent California law required the parole board to consider things like age, health, even childhood trauma, as mitigating factors, things that were not had considered before. Sirhan was still cautious about his direct involvement in the murder, but as a single board. One member said that we do not consider that his lack of full responsibility increases his current dangerousness. In short, much to the disbelief of Chris and Carrie, the board decided that Sir Han Surhan was no longer a threat to society and recommended his release. . sir hans herhan killed our father. He also shot five other people and five other people.

He did not apologize and took responsibility for killing our father or the other five people. What would that do to your soul? Wouldn't you walk around saying oh my God, how did this happen? Should I leave this? I'm so sorry, how can I make it up to you? Most of Kennedy's children, as well as Ethel Kennedy herself at age 93, were shocked, but two of her brothers, Douglas Kennedy and Robert Kennedy Jr., broke away from the family and applauded the news of At the launch, There are a hundred members of our family, you know the descendants of Joe and Rose Kennedy, and we are very close to all of them, and there are two members of our family who disagree and any of them have been part of a big family. knows that this is clear from a letter to the parole board that rfk jr wrote citing any opposition to mr sirhan's release simply based on the crime is contrary to the law and contrary to the concepts of redemption and forgiveness for a victim, there is a spiritual process of forgiving and I did it a long, long time ago you have forgiven him yes, you two Chrises no absolutely not we are not Catholics we are not enemies we believe in forgiveness but forgiveness has to come after an apology and an acknowledgment of the act itself and the damage that was done and that has not happened the fate of robert kennedy's killer now falls to the democratic governor of california gavin newsom my political hero robert kennedy has been open about being an rfk fan and that is what chris and kerry kennedy hold on to the promise that they will fight to the end parole is something you earn it is not a right you have we need to be defenders of our father that is a duty to him that is the legacy that we taught notions of duty and honor and what is required of a son of a family from a country to which