Rest In Peace

Coretta Scott King: April 27, 1927 -- January 30, 2006

Her funeral is taking place today. It's being televised on CSPAN, CNN, MSNBC and Fox. You can also watch or listen online at CSPAN2. The entire funeral will be reaired on CSPAN TV tonight at 6:00 PM MST. Here's a link to her elaborate funeral program. The New York Times has a good article about her life, including a slide show and video.

Could there be a more elegant and dignified representative of the civil rights movement? Coretta carried the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for 37 years after his assassination in April 1968, and did it with grace, strength and conviction. She also spoke out against a variety of injustices internationally and, unlike some others in the civil rights movement, strongly supported gay rights:

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice," she said. "But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people. -- March 31, 1998

Peace and farewell, Coretta. And thank you.

I am convinced that if I had not had a wife with the fortitude, strength and calmness of Coretta, I could not have stood up amid the ordeals and tensions surrounding the Montgomery movement. I came to see the real meaning of that rather trite statement: “A wife can either make or break a husband.” Coretta proved to be that type of wife with qualities to make a husband when he could have been so easily broken. In the darkest moments she always brought the light of hope. -– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.