Mourning the Passing of Coretta Scott King

Thousands of mourners filled the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, today to say their last goodbyes to Coretta Scott King. The crowd of more than ten thousand included many famous faces, many of whom participated in the service: Oprah Winfrey, Gladys Knight, Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, and many more. The funeral was also attended by four U.S. presidents -- five if you count Hillary "We are the President!" Clinton.

President George W. Bush shared a solemn tribute for the great lady:

"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," President Bush told King's four children and the crowd that filled New Birth Missionary Baptist Church for the funeral of the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's legacy, she built her own," Bush said. "Having loved a leader, she became a leader, and when she spoke, Americans listened closely."

Former President Clinton drew laughs as he saluted in the way that only Bill Clinton could.

"I don't want us to forget that there's a woman in there, not a symbol," Clinton said...

There were many tears, many smiles, and many laughs shared by all as the celebrated list of speakers and singers paid tribute to Mrs. King. But in the end, just as happened three months ago, both the funeral service and Monday night's memorial service were turned into political rallies.

At a service Monday night, the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton galvanized the crowd with fiery speeches that blasted the government and public figures for trying to make the King legacy their own while doing nothing for world peace or poor black Americans.

"We can't let them take her from us and reduce her to their trophy and not our freedom fighter," Jackson said.

Of course, the irony in the good reverend's statements is that so-called black leaders like Jackson and Sharpton have done exactly what they blame the government for doing. They have usurped the "color-blind" dream of Dr. Martin Luther King and turned it into a condemnation of all things not colored; they have hijacked Dr. King's vision of racial unity and twisted it into a self-promulgating message of racial intolerance. And in doing so, they have "done nothing for world peace or poor black Americans."

Unfortunately, today's service offered more of the same, if a bit subdued, with Rev. Joseph Lowry and even former president Jimmy Carter joining in the act. (Expose the Left has the videos -- see the links above.)

I cannot help but wonder if this is really the dream the Kings shared.

UPDATE: Some other related links: View the official order of service / program for the funeral here [PDF]. Also, the Independent Conservative's live-blogged much of the service.