Death of a King...

The civil rights movement has had a double blow in a short period of time...first with the loss of Miss Rosa Parks...who is now riding in style on one of those Casino style buses up in Heaven...right up front next to the driver...and last night we lost Coretta Scott King.

Unfortunately, since history starts with HIS and ends with STORY...the stories of woman, particularly women of color are lost, truncated, or subsumed into the histories of their husbands. I can't think of anyone that this has more tragically happened to then Coretta Scott King. Dr. Martin Luther King was a great man, but his wife was an amazing woman in her own right separate from her relationship to Dr. King.  I'll be the first to admit that I am as guilty as the next man for not taking time to learn about the breadth and depth of Mrs. King's work.  Today was the first day that I read even the shortest biography of her contributions to the fields of racial justice, economic justice, freedom of sexuality, anti-apartheid work, gender liberation, and so much much much more. If they don't lay out Coretta Scott King in the Capitol Rotunda...I hope the black people of Washington D.C. set fire to the White House and use the Capitol steps as a public outhouse.

Mrs. King was in all ways Dr. King's partner.  Even when Dr. King preferred that she play the role of dutiful wife...Coretta Scott wasn't having any of it. She was right there...outfront...doing what she felt was right and just for the liberation of her people. She was a leader in putting gender on the agenda of the civil rights movement, and she had her own vision of just world that not only theoretically included all oppressed peoples but explicitly did so in a way that other leaders from the 60s never articulated. Mrs. Scott King was very clear in her analysis of institutional oppression and its internationalization. The woman was a visionary.

We have lost a great woman today, but as my friend Lupe said...we've gained a new spiritual warrior that will continue to fight for us and protect us in another place and in another way. I'm sure the "leaders" of the country will have nothing but pretty words and high praise for Coretta Scott King...the ironic thing being that she dedicated her life to pulling down the institutions that they so lovingly endorse. The right has a way of trying to co-opt, wash down, and de-claw our leaders and all for which they stood and fought. But I walk into this day knowing that Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, and every other woman that fought for justice and liberty in this nation will never become pale meaningless symbols of the wealthy and the powerful...they have become powerfully ingrained in the minds and spirits of all their relatives...and all their relatives are those of us that remember them, honor them, and continue the legacy that they  have left for us. Rest easy Coretta. You've earned it.