"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..."
Martin Luther King, Jr.- Eulogy for the Young Victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing, September 18, 1963
There are many similar examples of political speech at such eulogies - it's traditional in many African-American churches. What President Bush sat through was tame by comparison to the address M L King would quite likely have made if he had lived to deliver Coretta Scot King’s eulogy to a captive audience including the President.
But, they should not be surprised when non-blacks resent these occasions being employed to trash a sitting President of the United States.
Bush was graceful and noble in his words and his bearing. Jimmy Carter (who is not black) was churlish and childish in his bitterness.
He is not only the worst president of the 20th century, but he is also the worst living ex-president.
I doubt he'll have to worry about being excoriated at his funeral by any Republicans. In fact, they'll likely have little to say, at all.
It's one thing when it's understood that everyone in attendance most likely shares your views. It's something entirely different when those who show to pay their respects are attacked. There's plenty of opportunity to attack them outside the funeral setting, where they targets of the attacks can defend themselves. But as I said earlier in the thread, that's no what the leftist punks want. They want to be able to attack without challenge, to take advantage of the class shown by their opponents, rather than reciprocating for it.
There is another difference between the two funerals. One was for people who were murdered, the other not. In the first case, it's a bit more natural that the speakers there would have something to say about the murderers, and the context in which they operated.
I wonder if the Rev. King would wonder what has become of this once mannerly and orderly small town nation. I can't help but think he would have begun, as his wife did, to look for our strengths, our honor and love of nation as one people, not divided by race or class.
Dr. King did help persuade the Federal Government to make welfare the prime help for the poor. He did see segregation of the races curbed, schools opened to all no matter how far the distance. He would have lived to see how both programs have crippled those who have come to rely on the largess of their country – not rely on self, just the opposite. The result is inner city gangs, drugs, crowded housing, crime and thousands of parentless children. A social engineering experiment that went awry because some people thought they understood what was needed, a form of Socialism which destroys the human spirit.
Dr. King’s words ring hollow today…”Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream..." The Dream is dieing from lack of care/respect and love for one’s country and the willingness to fight for and keep freedom; the Dream is dieing because our roots/history are being rewritten; we don’t know who we are. For all his beautiful words and his powerful encouragement, he would have seen the failure that all see, we failed to teach; we have failed to really teach our teachers to teach and we have failed to require them to teach fact and the basics. In our effort to help all, we have become a multicultural, rootless society rather than a cohesive, color blind, class blind strong country. Thanks to a Dream that was lost all too soon to political correctness and the politicians.
So its a "black" thing, huh? Let me guess: we wouldn't understand?
I reject the notion that it is par for the course for black ministers to take off topic shots at the sitting president of the united states when he comes to honor the deceased at her funeral. In fact, one might say that this justification for the Rev's comments about WMD and "weapons of mass deception" is another example of the liberal bigotry of low expectations: "Ya'll can't expect them there nee-grows to act respecful. It jess ain't they culture."
Baloney.
And comparing Martin's words at the memorial for the Birmingham Four to the inartful and ham-fisted spew from that "reverend" (and of course that fool Jimmy)? You ought to be ashamed of yourself.