This family was about civil rights. The comments were anything but that context. It was ignorant and wrong.
Which comments are you referring to? The comments about the response to Hurricane Katrina, the comments about the President's wiretapping program, or something else?
"I don't care what y'all say." If ever we had an expert on being moronic here it is Fatty. So heed his words. By the way, here's John McCain being "damn near moronic." http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Newscenter.ViewPressRelease&Content_id=992 And here's Martin Luther King being "damn near moronic." http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKjrEulogy.htm Eulogy for the Young Victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing By Martin Luther King, Jr. 18 September 1963 - Birmingham, Ala. Delivered at funeral service for three of the children - Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley - killed in the bombing. A separate service was held for the fourth victim, Carole Robertson. This afternoon we gather in the quiet of this sanctuary to pay our last tribute of respect to these beautiful children of God. They entered the stage of history just a few years ago, and in the brief years that they were privileged to act on this mortal stage, they played their parts exceedingly well. Now the curtain falls; they move through the exit; the drama of their earthly life comes to a close. They are now committed back to that eternity from which they came. These children-unoffending, innocent, and beautiful-were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. And yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death. They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows. They have something to say to every politician [Audience:] (Yeah) who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats (Yeah) and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans. (Speak) They have something to say to every Negro (Yeah) who has passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream. And so my friends, they did not die in vain. (Yeah) God still has a way of wringing good out of evil. (Oh yes) And history has proven over and over again that unmerited suffering is redemptive. The innocent blood of these little girls may well serve as a redemptive force (Yeah) that will bring new light to this dark city. (Yeah) The holy Scripture says, "A little child shall lead them." (Oh yeah) The death of these little children may lead our whole Southland (Yeah) from the low road of man's inhumanity to man to the high road of peace and brotherhood. (Yeah, Yes) These tragic deaths may lead our nation to substitute an aristocracy of character for an aristocracy of color. The spilled blood of these innocent girls may cause the whole citizenry of Birmingham (Yeah) to transform the negative extremes of a dark past into the positive extremes of a bright future. Indeed this tragic even may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience. (Yeah) And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour (Yeah Well), we must not despair. (Yeah, Well) We must not become bitter (Yeah, That's right), nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers. (Yeah, Yes) Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality. May I now say a word to you, the members of the bereaved families? It is almost impossible to say anything that can console you at this difficult hour and remove the deep clouds of disappointment which are floating in your mental skies. But I hope you can find a little consolation from the universality of this experience. Death comes to every individual. There is an amazing democracy about death. It is not aristocracy for some of the people, but a democracy for all of the people. Kings die and beggars die; rich men and poor men die; old people die and young people die. Death comes to the innocent and it comes to the guilty. Death is the irreducible common denominator of all men. I hope you can find some consolation from Christianity's affirmation that death is not the end. Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance. Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into life eternal. Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days. Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. (Yeah, Yes) Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. (Yeah) And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him (Yeah, Well), and that God is able (Yeah, Yes) to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace. And so today, you do not walk alone. You gave to this world wonderful children. [moans] They didn't live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives. (Well) Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality. (Yeah) And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died. (Yeah) They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham (Yeah, Well), nor did they die discussing and listening to filthy jokes. (Yeah) They died between the sacred walls of the church of God (Yeah, Yes), and they were discussing the eternal meaning (Yes) of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations. (Yes) Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare: (Yeah, Well): Good night, sweet princesses. Good night, those who symbolize a new day. (Yeah, Yes) And may the flight of angels (That's right) take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you.
The main appaling comments were about the ticky-tack crap about this administration. It was inappropriate, period. This should have been much more about praising what she and her husband accomplished, as well as what else still needed to be done. Instead it was typical rabble-rousing.
It might be rude at your funeral, but that doesn't make it rude at King's funeral. It is not disrespectful if the family and loved ones paying their respects believe that to be a respectable way to celebrate the departed's life. It is up to them. It isn't up to anyone else to butt in and tell a family the appropriate way they should mourn the loss of their own family member. Your way of having a funeral isn't the only way. Siser Chang pointed out different customs that take place at different funerals. I have been a part of more funerals than I would have wished, and I can tell you that my family and I might mourn differently than some people, or the same as some people, but that is a personal time, and I would resent anyone telling me that my form of mourning was somehow wrong. That is especially true when the people telling me it was wrong didn't even know the departed, or have the slightest clue of the type of funeral that person would have wanted.
Gee, I thought you were "above" name-calling? Especially when none has been directed towards you? You're just about as classy as the two yesterday.
No, you didn't call me a name. You called the people who upheld the King legacy and are now under attack for it names. That's way worse than bashing me. I'm not nearly as classy as they are. Why don't you read King's eulogy that I posted and apologize to Coretta Scott King's friends and family for offending her memory.
They may be apalling coments to you, but you don't have a horse in the race, FFB. The people who actually knew the deceased, would have the best ideas of what she would want, cheered when those comments were made. They stood and gave an ovation. Obviously the people who were the most deeply affected by her passing, approved of the words. What is moronic is somebody who never knew the departed telling those that lived with her all of her life, the proper way for them to mourn. Judging by MLK's own speech at a funeral, it doesn't seem out of line with anything Coretta Scott King would have wanted. Just because something isn't your cup of tea, doesn't mean everyone else needs to fall in line or be wrong, especially concerning something as personal and individual as mourning the loss of a loved one.
I wasn't meaning disrespect in anyway. That time I left out the 'h' on accident. Before I abreviated it to Sis the other time, just for brevitie's sake. Sisher, if you were offended or thought I meant offense, then I apologize.
As you do to the repubs all the time. Yet, you chose to personally attack me with names. Don't start hiding behind other people. I don't call you an "idiot" when you call Bush one. So lay off your own self-imposed righteousness. And don't try to say you take the high road when you bring personal insults out for no reason. As to the MLK eulogy, I see a vast difference in that speech. Not nearly as ticky-tack as this one was. There was an agenda to those two speeches yesterday, and I found it uncalled for. A FAR more appropriate handling would have been for those two to write and publish their thoughts in tribute to CSK, rather than doing it at her funeral.
That might be appropriate as well. But those that actually knew, loved, and lived with CSK, felt that was an appropriate way to mourn her at her funeral. Their wishes about speeches, and belief of what is appropriate would trump your personal beliefs, since you don't really know her.
Once again the president's defenders turn heart felt pleas to address the most urgent issues facing our country into a lecture on politeness and genteelity. I promise you the crowd and the speakers at the funeral would have been considerably more polite to the president if he hadn't spent his entire time in office screwing the very causes the Kings fought for. But oh no, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about what's "appropriate" and polite. Fatty, you call people idiots constantly. It's ironic as hell, but you do it. You might be joking sometimes when you do it (as when you called Almu a dumbass today), but when I insult you I'm having fun too. As for the supposed difference between yesterday's speeches and the eulogy MLK delivered in 63, you either didn't read King's speech or you're just flat crazy. There was a blatant political agenda in that eulogy as there was in probably every speech King ever gave. And his wife continued that legacy. To lecture the Kings' closest friends and family on the "appropriate" way to celebrate their lives and mourn their deaths is pompous as hell and it offends their memories. You don't get to be offended by the speeches at CSK's memorial service and neither does Bush. Neither of you has earned that right. Carter and Lowery were cheered loudly by CSK's friends and family because they knew those speeches honored the fight she and her husband lived every day of their lives. When you call them morons for doing that you expose yourself. Don't get mad at me for pointing it out.
C'mon! Do you really think the family read the speeches prior to their being presented? Maybe the family didn't have a problem with it. But I found it to be in poor taste, especially in honor of a classy woman.
So I take it since you seem to know the overall tone of the funeral speeches, you watched the entire funeral on TV?
It's so funny to me that with this and that silly Wellstone business from way back how jerk-offs like Matt Drudge and Loofah Bill, telephone lothario and the rest of the Right wing haterade brigade become guardians of decorum with respect to the funeral services (that they would never be or feel welcome at) of liberal figures like Wellstone and King who they like to sh-t on at every possible opportunity while living.
Typical BS. I, like most moderate conservatives, disagree with a lot of issues on both sides. I am fully behind just about every civil right movement there is, as well as the triumphs that have already occured. I was a big fan of MLK and CSK, which is why I didn't like to see the displays yesterday. Not all of us are zombie-parrots who follow every little thing our politicians say.
That's right, the Liberal banter at her funeral made about as much sense as the Chewbacca Defense. They failed to even commemorate the things she did AFTER her husband was murdered, they completely threw her to the side and went on with their own agendas. Pathetic is as pathetic does.
Right on, Sam. She wasn't just "classy," Fatty. She was a tireless soldier in a difficult fight against the exact sorts of things Bush has been responsible for during his time in office. MLK was spied on and wiretapped without a warrant because he spoke truth to a powerful government. Speaking truth to a powerful government that is guilty of the exact same crime today honors the King legacy. Ditto with Iraq and Vietnam as others here have pointed out. What's in poor taste is to suggest that those closest to CSK ought to have been more friendly to a person that represents all she fought against over willfully stating an intent to continue her fight, on a day that was meant to honor her memory. Those people stood up and cheered because they felt that continuing that fight, and yes continuing not only at but especially at her funeral was the best way they could imagine to honor her, especially when a person representing all she stood against in her life was there trying to co-opt the King legacy.
