Coretta Scott King deserved better, said Mary Mitchell in the Chicago Sun-Times. Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow was laid to rest last week, but not before her funeral was turned into a 'œtacky and disrespectful' display of political posturing. With President Bush and the first lady sitting solemnly behind the pulpit, several speakers simply couldn't resist delivering 'œcaustic' political jabs. Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. Then, for good measure, he decried the 'œsecret government wiretapping' that had harassed the Kings—a not-too-subtle reference to Bush's domestic spying program. Civil-rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery got a standing ovation when he bellowed: 'œCoretta knew, and we knew, there were no weapons of mass destruction over there.' Mrs. King may have agreed with many of the sentiments expressed, said the New York Post in an editorial. But 'œshe was far too gracious to openly insult a president of the United States to his face.'
Anyone who says that, said Rosa Brooks in the Los Angeles Times, didn't know Mrs. King. Her whole life was about 'œspeaking truth to power.' Mrs. King 'œdidn't worry about being 'appropriate'' when she marched with her husband through the streets of Montgomery, Ala. Nor did she 'œstay in her place' when she took up the cause of gay rights or opposed the war in Iraq. And remember, said Colbert King in The Washington Post, this was a black Baptist church, where funerals are usually long, emotional, and cathartically honest. When people are 'œgoing home' to God, Baptists 'œget it said.' Mrs. King spent her life dedicated to racial justice, and was 'œa fixture at anti-war rallies.' If the speakers celebrating her ideals sounded 'œharsh to conservative ears,' too bad. This service wasn't for them.
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