Legacy MattersThere are times in life - weddings, baptisms, bar mitzvahs, and funerals -when we must rise to the occasion and behave so as not to cause embarrassment to invited guests.
For those of you who don't have a mother or never read Emily Post, you do not discuss or argue politics or religion at any event, especially in a house of worship, that marks an important life transition. One reason is to maintain a unity of attention and human connection to the person being celebrated or mourned. Eulogies are about the person in the casket, not about the speaker.
Appallingly, at Coretta Scott King's funeral, both Reverend Lowery and former President Jimmy Carter, took advantage to deliver partisan remarks that were completely inappropriate and calculated to deliver embarrassment.
What should have a dignified and solemn Salute Goodbye to a beautiful and gracious woman whose legacy and that of her husband's have enriched our entire country became instead a stage for political theater. It was an appalling lack of respect.
She deserved better.
UPDATE: Jasper in the comments says that President Bush's comments were the offensive ones. I thought it was a quite beautiful eulogy.
I will print them in their entirety so you can judge for yourself.
THE PRESIDENT: 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. (Applause.)
Carter and Lowery are friends of the King family, a family that spent their lives speaking truth to power. If you don't like that, your beef is with Mr and Mrs King. Spare us the Faux concern.
Posted by: DarkSyde at February 7, 2006 11:33 PM"Truth to power"? Give me a break. This was a funeral. The fact that they were friends of the family makes it worse. Funerals are not the places for politics. They are a ritual of civilized people and civility is owed to all.
Posted by: Jill at February 8, 2006 7:49 AMAre you kidding?? Her adult life was political. You cannot honour Mrs. King without honouring her politics and her courage and commitment to the values and principles that her husband espoused.
George W. Bush's comments were the offensive ones.
Posted by: jasper at February 9, 2006 8:31 AMCoretta Scott King devoted her life to advocating for peace and civil rights, it is thus not surprising that Reverend Lowrey brought that up in the context of what is going on today in the world- King opposed the Iraq war. Period. In fact, CS King stood up for things that this administration pretty much opposes. That that is inconvenient to this administration- well, that's kinda their problem- they can't have it both ways.
The Justice Dept under Bush has slashed federal civil rights enforcement and it allowed redistricting in Texas that was believed to be racially discriminatory to such an extent that the Civil Rights Division complained repeatedly and wrote legal memorandum saying as much but naturally, it was ignored. Bush pandered to the racists in his base by using the despicable old GOP stand-by "southern strategy" in the 2000 election when his team played nasty by insinuating McCain had a "black" child and speaking at Bob Jones University, which bans interracial dating- Rove even admitted it was a huge risk for them but they wanted to energize their base. Nice.
When you do stuff like that, you can't expect to get wild applause from the civil rights community. What this is really about is Bush and his followers resenting any kind of criticism- they simply can't stand it and that is exactly what happened. Who said being POTUS was easy? Insteading of walking around like a cowboy pretending to be tough, why doesn't he actually show some strength and realize that criticism is healthy in a democracy and King's funeral was political because SHE was political.
The personal is political and no one demonstrated that better than CS King.
Posted by: Stacy at February 9, 2006 4:35 PM"The personal is political" is one of the more damaging sayings to have come out of the 60s'. I think it began with one of the first women's consciousness raising groups, maybe Bread and Roses in Cambridge and who did the dishes became a political statement. It's damaging because it's not true.
Birth, death, love, loss, grief are personal, they are not political.
Every human shares these experiences with every other human, no matter what their politics. Over time, we've developed standards to celebrate and ease these life transitions. It's what we call simple decency. It accords respect to every human.
Let's agree that people differ in their politics and in the way they believe or don't in God. Many people see their political positions as part of their individual identities. Most don't believe that their political positions trumps the personal.
A fireman doesn't ask the political or religious position of someone in a burning building. Doctors don't question the sick and injured about their position on WMD before treating them. Simple human decency wouldn't allow it.
Simple human decency trumps politics. What binds us together as a people, as humans is the decency with which we treat each other.
You're arguing politics. I'm arguing decency.
Posted by: Jill at February 9, 2006 10:11 PMYou cannot pretend that decency exists is some sort of bubble, isolated from the political realities of the day.
The words spoken by George W. Bush are offensive because they are hollow sound bites.
Your observation "What binds us together as a people, as humans is the decency with which we treat each other" is sadly naive on so many levels. Would that it were true in both the public and private realm but, with the few exceptions, it is not.
I wish Bush did ask himself every single day whether his decency was exhibited in the way he has treated others -- particularly those for whom Doctor and Mrs. King spoke. But he doesn't and he shouldn't be allowed to use the funeral of a truly decent women to pretend that he does.
Jasper
Treating all people with decency is what the Golden Rule is all about. If you think I am "sadly naive" to want people to do so, then you must think Martin Luther King was naive too when he gave his I have a dream speech.
Dr. King spoke of a dream "that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood." More personally, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."
It would seem that you only want to treat decently those people who think just like you.
Jill
I hope that your rather bold assertion that I limit my decency to only those who think like me is inaccurate. You would have to ask those people who populate my life whether that is in fact the case.
I stand by my observation that decency seems a rare occurence in the public realm.
George W. Bush stayed on holiday as people died in New Orleans. His administration let people wait for days and days to be rescued. His administration stopped looking for the dead before all were found.
How 'decent' is that?
And ask yourself what Martin Luther King would have done and would have said during the days, weeks, and months following the hurricane? The decency of Doctor King was rooted in his religious beliefs but it was also rooted in concern about the political realities of the United States.
Jasper
I spoke too broadly. I should have said "you only want people at funerals to be treated decently who share your political positions."
You continue to confuse decency with political views.
Posted by: Jill at February 10, 2006 1:00 PMJasper
I spoke too broadly. I should have said "you only want people at funerals to be treated decently who share your political positions."
You continue to confuse decency with political views.
Posted by: Jill at February 10, 2006 1:00 PMJill
Thank you for the clarification.
Posted by: jasper at February 10, 2006 10:14 PMMuch as some of us might like to separate the personal from the political, the actions of the Fla. govenor, our President and some members of Congress, in the episode of that poor woman in Fla., is just one instance indicating they are unable to differentiate between the two. Either that, or they deliberately exploited the situation for political ends despite all their high moralistic verbal posturing pronouncements.
Unfortunately, during the past two national elections, the deliberate exploitation of voters for devisive reasons on what should be personal moral and ethical issues indicates primarily political motivations.
Examination of those actions above, also most every other action taken while in office make the words read by our President hollow. If we want to know what someone believes, look at their actions. Had someone else delivered those words, they would have had true meaning.
I do find your posts interesting and enjoy visiting from time to time. :-)
Posted by: joared at February 18, 2006 3:37 AMI've thought quite a bit about the point I tried to make and the comments it provoked.
It's not a question of political differences though I'm sure we have them. It just is I want to have some places and some times where we can still have those differences, include them but transcend them.
Call it a higher place, where we can be "we" and not a group of egos who have to be right and put others in their place. That place is where we concentrate on what unites us, not divides us.
The times to climb and inhabit that higher place, the "we" space, however difficult and challenging it may be are those times when we gather together to celebrate an important life transition of ANOTHER, be it birth marriage or death and other life milestones.
The focus is on the OTHER, not on our politics or even our strongly held positions and beliefs.
Let's not pollute everything with politics. That's why I never write about politics even though I have my own strongly held and some weakly held opinions and I love to pontificate, argue and debate.
I do appreciate my readers, every one, especially those who leave comments.