“What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.” - Robert Francis Kennedy
53 years after the notorious assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy, a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party at the time, convicted shooter Sirhan Bishara Sirhan has been recommended for parole by the California Parole Board. Sirhan, 77 now, had been declined parole 15 times previously before this, based on factors such as inadequate remorse and rehabilitation, actions that changed the course of America, denying responsibility as well the opposition from prosecutors of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office.
On June 4th, 1968, the Jordanian-Palestinian immigrant gunned down Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after the candidate had just delivered his victory speech on the California primaries. While there is no denying Sirhan’s involvement in the shooting, there are pieces of evidence that do not add up, such as Kennedy being shot at point-blank range from behind while the 24-year-old Sirhan was standing in front of him the entire time. In 2018, after a visit to Sirhan, Robert Kennedy Jr told ABC News, “I was disturbed that the wrong person might have been convicted of killing my father.”
The parole board’s decision was reached in favor of Sirhan’s request after they deemed he posed no threat to society. This parole hearing was different from the previous 15 after the LA DA’s office announced that prosecutors would not be opposing the request for parole and in part due to statements from two of Robert Kennedy’s children. As a last-minute decision, Douglas Kennedy attended the hearing and told the board that he viewed Sirhan as “worthy of compassion and love.”
In a letter to the board, Robert Kennedy Jr wrote, “While nobody can speak definitively on behalf of my father, I firmly believe that based on his own consuming commitment to fairness and justice, that he would strongly encourage this board to release Mr. Sirhan because of Sirhan’s impressive record of rehabilitation.” Since then, six of the senator’s nine surviving children have publicly issued a statement condemning parole for Sirhan and urging Governor Gavin Newsom to overturn the recommendation, stating, “He took our father from our family and he took him from America.”
As a child, Sirhan lived through airstrikes and bombings in the Middle East; he claims Kennedy’s pro-Israeli policies are what fueled his urge to kill the 42-year-old senator. During the parole hearing, a member of the panel asked Sirhan about his feelings on the conflicts the Middle East faces today, causing the 77-year-old to break down in tears. Sirhan faces the risk of being deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement if released but his brother, Munir, says there are many countries in the Middle East ready to welcome him home. Governor Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall on September 14th, has 30 days to decide whether to overturn the recommendation or to let it stand. For now, Sirhan Sirhan finds himself one step closer to freedom.