History lesson from Keith Olbermann

[Jim Lane]

15. Sorry, you lose.

Whenever I think of RFK's assassination, I remember having to go to school the next morning for the trig exam. Nobody said anything. There was nothing to say. We just looked at each other. Having shared our grief, we sat down and tried to focus on cosines.

Several weeks earlier, I had put on my jacket and tie, normally brought out only for school pictures, to walk in a memorial march for Dr. Martin Luther King. We were technically in the North but in an area not exactly free of racism. I sensed some hostility from onlookers, although there was no overt shouting. The police took a very narrow interpretation of our march permit. For the latter part of the route we had to go no more than two abreast -- which, joke's on them, made our line much longer.

It was that period in 1968 that changed my mind about capital punishment. Enough killing, I felt very strongly. I've been a death penalty opponent ever since.

And, having remembered all that, I still think Keith was overreacting to an offhand comment about the dates.