February 7, 2006
"GRACE AND BEAUTY IN EVERY SEASON":
President Honors Coretta Scott King at Homegoing Celebration (President George W. Bush, New Birth Missionary Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 2/07/06)
To the King Family, distinguished guests and fellow citizens. We gather in God's house, in God's presence, to honor God's servant, Coretta Scott King. Her journey was long, and only briefly with a hand to hold. But now she leans on everlasting arms. I've come today to offer the sympathy of our entire nation at the passing of a woman who worked to make our nation whole.Americans knew her husband only as a young man. We knew Mrs. King in all the seasons of her life -- and there was grace and beauty in every season. As a great movement of history took shape, her dignity was a daily rebuke to the pettiness and cruelty of segregation. When she wore a veil at 40 years old, her dignity revealed the deepest trust in God and His purposes. In decades of prominence, her dignity drew others to the unfinished work of justice. In all her years, Coretta Scott King showed that a person of conviction and strength could also be a beautiful soul. This kind and gentle woman became one of the most admired Americans of our time. She is rightly mourned, and she is deeply missed.
Some here today knew her as a girl, and saw something very special long before a young preacher proposed. She once said, "Before I was a King, I was a Scott." And the Scotts were strong, and righteous, and brave in the face of wrong. Coretta eventually took on the duties of a pastor's wife, and a calling that reached far beyond the doors of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
In that calling, Dr. King's family was subjected to vicious words, threatening calls in the night, and a bombing at their house. Coretta had every right to count the cost, and step back from the struggle. But she decided that her children needed more than a safe home -- they needed an America that upheld their equality, and wrote their rights into law. (Applause.) And because this young mother and father were not intimidated, millions of children they would never meet are now living in a better, more welcoming country. (Applause.)
In the critical hours of the civil rights movement, there were always men and women of conscience at the heart of the drama. They knew that old hatreds ran deep. They knew that nonviolence might be answered with violence. They knew that much established authority was against them. Yet they also knew that sheriffs and mayors and governors were not ultimately in control of events; that a greater authority was interested, and very much in charge. (Applause.)
The God of Moses was not neutral about their captivity. The God of Isaiah and the prophets was still impatient with injustice. And they knew that the Son of God would never leave them or forsake them.
But some had to leave before their time -- and Dr. King left behind a grieving widow and little children. Rarely has so much been asked of a pastor's wife, and rarely has so much been taken away. Years later, Mrs. King recalled, "I would wake up in the morning, have my cry, then go in to them. The children saw me going forward." Martin Luther King, Jr. had preached that unmerited suffering could have redemptive power.
Little did he know that this great truth would be proven in the life of the person he loved the most. Others could cause her sorrow, but no one could make her bitter. By going forward with a strong and forgiving heart, Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's legacy, she built her own. (Applause.) Having loved a leader, she became a leader. And when she spoke, America listened closely, because her voice carried the wisdom and goodness of a life well lived.
In that life, Coretta Scott King knew danger. She knew injustice. She knew sudden and terrible grief. She also knew that her Redeemer lives. She trusted in the name above every name. And today we trust that our sister Coretta is on the other shore -- at peace, at rest, at home. (Applause.) May God bless you, and may God bless our country.
A stray though from the Reagan funeral recurs--there's never been a better president on whose watch to pass if you're a national figure.
Posted by Orrin Judd at February 7, 2006 6:56 PM
OJ, apparently not everyone feels the same way:
Today's memorial service for civil rights activist Coretta Scott King -- billed as a "celebration" of her life -- turned suddenly political as one former president took a swipe at the current president, who was also lashed by an outspoken black pastor!
The outspoken Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ripped into President Bush during his short speech, ostensibly about the wife of Martin Luther King Jr.
"She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war. She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now that there were no weapons of mass destruction over there," Lowery said.
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash8.htm
Brad:
When they do her life story on American Experience they close with W, not the Rev. Lowery.
Posted by: oj at February 7, 2006 7:33 PMoj. Who cares about fantasy bios on TV.
The funeral service obviously having been concluded, Mr. and Mrs. Bush should have quietly stood up, walked over to the family, extended their sympathy and walked out the door. It would have been interesting how many others would have followed them out.
Posted by: erp at February 7, 2006 8:24 PMBrad - the loony left, from the Wellstone funeral to picketing soldier funerals, has shown it has lost all sense of common decency.
Erp - perhaps. But I would think the presidential entourage (secret service, etc) might have made leaving a bit of a spectacle and disruptive.
Posted by: AWW at February 7, 2006 8:37 PMHow the audience may have reacted to what Carter and Lowery said, and what they may think they're doing by politicizing the service plays far differently when shown on TV, since the public does not tune in to see a funeral and expect to get a political rally instead. It's the same lesson those in the audience and speakers at the Wellstone funeral learned after the fact, when they discovered playing to the crowd in a small location is different from playing to many thousands more watching in on television.
Posted by: John at February 7, 2006 11:32 PMIt is a measure of the impotence and insanity, and yes, the inhumanity of the Left that they are compelled to use these funerals to make speeches.
Cynthia Tucker (ed. page editor of the Atlanta paper) said it was "clever" of Carter to talk about wiretapping, but of course he wasn't about to say that RFK was complicit. The saddest part of the whole affair is that the church roared in approval for Carter and Lowery, practically confirming that the black community is still oppressed on the plantation. And with a mindset like that, perhaps it always will be.
Also, both Lowery and Carter have been irrelevant in GA for many, many years, and both have feuded with the King family at times. It would have been better to have Shirley Franklin speak (mayor of Atlanta).
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 8, 2006 12:28 AMHow is it clever to bring up taping by the exalted JFK and the icon King's secrets?
Posted by: oj at February 8, 2006 12:32 AMSome wag over at FR wrote,
Dem rallies turn into funerals.
Dem funerals turn into rallies.
oj. Lowery? Why would I care about him? I never even heard of him before.
The Bush entourage leaving would be disruptive? The disruption was the spewing of hate coming from the altar of the church.
I did feel a little sorry for the media this am. Here they have a great picture, h/t Drudge of the Bush's looking uncomfortable, but if they print it, they must also explain why they look that way.
Oh what's a liberal rag to do? Our's chose to not reveal all that happened at Mrs. King's funeral although it was splashed across the front page of the paper.
Pretty skeevy for Carter to compare civil rights leaders to terrorists. As that's what his wiretap comment most certainly did.
Posted by: RC at February 9, 2006 8:48 AM