It was a moment in time.
There was before - and after.
On this date in 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, seconds after claiming victory in the crucial California Primary, walked away from the microphone and in the midst of some confusion into the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
There waiting for him was Sirhan Sirhan.
Kennedy was rushed to the hospital, where he lingered for 24 hours before dying on June 6.
Up until that second, with RFK the victor in California and seemingly on his way to the Democratic nomination, the country was different.
We were still innocent, despite the horrific assassinations of Kennedy's brother John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The events that transpired a few minutes after midnight on June 5, 1968, changed all that.
We became a cynical nation. We seemed bitter, negative.
If you're looking for a fulcrum of when this nation shifted, when our optimism took on a dark shade, you can point to this moment, this day, this event.
It's the day our innocence died.
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