In April 1968, four days shy of my 19th birthday, I found myself in the men’s gymnasium at Ball State University along with several thousand other students listening to Bobby Kennedy, who less than a month earlier had announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president.

It was an experience that had a profound influence on my political beliefs (my father voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964). I was far from alone, a fact that became much more apparent later that day.

It was April 4. On his way from Munice to Indianapolis, Kennedy was told about the murder of Martin Luther King. In response, he insisted on reaching out that night to the city’s black community and — as a result of his words and compassion — Indianapolis escaped the terrible riots that damaged other large cities, according to historians.

Here are a few of the words Kennedy spoke in 1968:

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black .

“So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that’s true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love — a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

“We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we’ve had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

“But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.”

My daughter was one of the demonstrators Saturday in Washington, D.C. She said the protesters were peaceful as they exercised the right to assemble guaranteed to them by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Bobby Kennedy listened more than 50 years ago. We should listen now.

Community talk

• WHAT: Community Conversation on systemic racism.

• WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 16.

• WHERE: On-line. Go to Stacie Schmidt’s Facebook page for more information and registration.