Spectre of 1968 looms large in 2025

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Having no participation on TikTok, X, Instagram, WhatsApp and other popular social media platforms, I was unaware of the importance of Charlie Kirk, until he was killed on September 10. I vaguely remember his speech as part of the circus-like atmosphere at the Republican National Convention last year, but am several decades removed from Gen-Z to whom he primarily communicated.

My news is carefully picked and sifted from a variety of international media sources, and did a fair bit of research before getting a clear picture of Mr Kirk. He obviously blended his religion with political views, and was very appealing to young audiences, influencing them to support the MAGA movement. His tragic murder reminds me about Dr Martin Luther King Jr, another outspoken young American who blended religion with politics, who also met an untimely demise. While Mr Kirk and Dr King operated from completely opposite ends of the political spectrum, there are so many similarities that it seems as if lightning has struck twice, or as Yogi Berra famously said : “It’s deja-vu all over again”.

Dr King was assassinated by a sniper’s bullet while on a small balcony at a Memphis motel in 1968, when President Linden B. Johnson (LBJ) was in the White House. LBJ was frequently characterised as larger-than-life, bullying, overbearing, bombastic, contradictory and somewhat uncouth, while America was dramatically divided by the Vietnam War.

Fast forward to Mr Kirk being shot by a sniper’s bullet on a small outside stage at a Utah university. President Donald J. Trump (DJT) is in the Oval Office, displaying identical character traits as LBJ on a daily basis, with the country pathetically polarised on several issues including wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Some cold-blooded commentators described Mr Kirk as a bigoted, self-righteous, charlatan – the very same adjectives callously used by others to demonise Dr King back in 1968. Robert F. Kennedy was the leading Democrat Party candidate that year, today his son is a lynchpin in DJT’s administration. Sure looks as if history may be repeating itself, as the dreadful spectre of 1968 looms large in 2025.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada