Rev. Lowery spoke at Coretta Scott King's funeral services as we all know. The video of the speeches by Rev. Lowery, Presidents Bush I & II, Clinton, Carter and Sen. Clinton can be seen at
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
I saw the speeches and the media coverage. I was inspired by Mrs. King's send off and now I'm just angry. The mainsteam media coverage of her funeral was appalling.
The services for Coretta Scott King didn't "turn political" or "get ugly". Mrs. King, like her husband before her, was inextricably linked to politics in this country. That's the way they chose to live, and they were a blessing to us because of that choice. Precisely because of that choice.
Part of the reason the church was chosen for the send-off is because it could hold 10,000 people. I heard a news report that more than 4,000 dignitaries were scheduled to attend the funeral to pay their respect to Mrs. King. That already sounds "political" to me.
Rev. Lowery's remarks, excerpted and a rough cut:
I am neither gambler not bettor but who could have brought this crowd together except Coretta...
How marvelous that Presidents and Governors come to mourn and praise, but in the morning... (smattering of yeahs, applause)
Will words become deeds that meet needs? ... (smattering of applause and some standing now)
Thank you Coretta. Didn't she carry her grief with dignity? Her growing influence with humility?
She secured his seed, nurtured his nobility, she declared humanity's worth and vented their vision, his and hers, for peace in all (unintelligible)...
She summoned the nations to study war no more. She embraced the wonders of the human family from shore to shore. Excuse me Maya (laughter and hat tip to Maya Angelou - Poet Laureate of US)
She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war. She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions afar. We know now that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction over there. (Standing applause)
But Coretta knew and we knew that there were Weapons of MisDirection right down here. (Ohhs)
Millions without health insurance, poverty abounds, for war billions more but NO MORE for the poor.
Coretta had harsh critics, some no one could please, but she paid them no mind, she kept speaking for the least of these...
This is a huge point that everyone forgets about the King Legacy:
NON-VIOLENT resolution of political problems.
Taylor Branch's third installment in the biography of Dr. King just came out last month it's called At Cannan's Edge: The History of America in the King Years. He hits this issue hard. The book covers 1965 - 1968. Straight up the book opens with Selma and on the same day as the troops landing in Vietnam, a war fought mostly by sons of middle and lower income families, kids who didn't qualify for college or political deferments.
Dr. King held fast to his belief in non-violence as the means to achieve political goals. They didn't give him a Nobel because he suffered the slings and arrows of racism; they gave it to him because he was an important philosopher as well as an important national political leader. He furthered the work of Gandhi in this country and in the time frame for this book he was not praised for it. Everyone wanted to rumble on all sides at this point, but he never wavered. His core principles would not allow it.
This is a video interview from the Newshour where Mr. Branch discusses his new book. Here's an excerpt:
TAYLOR BRANCH: Well, he was under tremendous strain because he had the opposition from virtually all the South and a good bit of the rest of the country.
And he had only a small minority of the black minority on his side. And they were at one another's throats over tactics. And he had -- it took all of his patience and all of his aplomb and humor to say we are trying to do something that's crazy, to change the power relations of a great nation without an army. And you have to have an extra measure of tolerance for people who are trying to figure out the basics of strategy.
JEFFREY BROWN: There were challenges to his leadership. There were, of course, challenges in these years to the whole notion of nonviolence. Tell us about that.
TAYLOR BRANCH: I think it's pretty clear that nonviolence was the most potent and historically consequential idea from the move -- from the movement of this era. It was also the first to become passé. It became passé among black people who resented the special burden that most Americans wanted only black people to be nonviolent and otherwise they admired John Wayne and James Bond, but it also became passé to the intellectual journals of the North who considered a greater potency to militants or radicals just from anybody who shook their fist and said "I'm mad" and Dr. King, you can see the quotes here saying this is very sad because these groups are dying. They're going to make a lot of noise but they seem to be seducing America away from nonviolence.
That's why Rev. Lowery's remarks were important, that's the context. It wasn't an ugly partisan scene, it was Dr. King's legacy. A legacy that we are all blessed with as Americans. The problem wassn't the funeral and the mourners; the problem was two of the attendants at the funeral. Don't let people tell you otherwise. Remind them what Dr. King and his lovely, strong and inspirational wife, Coretta, stood for.
Fire it up! Don't let them pull a Wellstone on this one; remind your co-workers, neighbors, family and friends. Make them think. Make them appreciate what really went down in Georgia.
It was important, it's not the past - it's the future.