What If MLK Delivered The Late Mrs. King's Eulogy?

Much has been made by Republicans and Dems or liberals of the speeches of some individuals at the funeral of Coretta Scott King. Interestingly enough, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered some important eulogies in his day - and under extremely difficult and emotional circumstances in highly polarized times. Take a look at how he approached the eulogies and imagine if you would have heard him speaking like an Al Sharpton and some others who were so inflammatory, seizing the opportunity of a funeral for political gain.

Eulogy for the Young Victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing

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.

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)

You'll hear no hate or confrontation, only hope and vision in this rare audio of a 1965 eulogy King delivered:

Thirty-six years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a eulogy in Selma, Ala., for a minister killed protesting police brutality. Lost for years, the tape of of that speech is available again, after a Unitarian minister tracked it down from an obscure collection.

Two years before his 1967 speech here at Riverside Church, Dr. King delivered the eulogy for the Rev. James Reeb, the Unitarian Universalist minister killed in Selma, Alabama, just a few days after Bloody Sunday. In that stirring eulogy, Dr. King said, “Old systems of exploitation and oppression are passing away. Out of the wombs of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born.”

Finally, perhaps we can learn something from what Martin Luther King said about what he'd like the substance of his own eulogy to be. In a sense, he even states a lack of desire for it to address a political kingdom.

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)

I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,

Then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,

If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,

If I can spread the message as the master taught,

Then my living will not be in vain.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

Contrasting eulogies delivered by King himself, along with reading his thoughts on the subject makes the argument, far better than I or anyone on the right ever could, that politicizing the funeral of his wife wouldn't be what he wanted, or perhaps even thought acceptable.

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Comments

[Honey]

I didnt "forget" anything, Honey - I linked it and I don't need people posting articles in my comments. If you refuse to accept that MLK was about lifting everyone up as opposed to beating some people down - too bad.

[Honey]

Thirty-six years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a eulogy in Selma, Ala., for a minister killed protesting police brutality.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006 at 11:52 PM in Politics | Permalink

Excerpt from Eulogy for James Reeb by MLK:

The quote you posted below, which I deleted, isn't King, it's the guy writing the article. Duh!

[raindrops]

and the republicans and right-wingers would never think of using the death of anyone to politicize or grandstand?? excuse me? so why did we get the "he walked on water" type commentaries about reagan when he died?

there's enough mud in a situation like this for everyone to fall face down and drown - best not to sling it when it's clinging to you

[Bullgator]

For too long the left has gotten away with mining Dr. King's speeches for any shred of ideological support, while attacking anyone else who dares to quote larger sections. Does that seem right to you?

Bravo, Dan.

[ViVi]

It's refreshing to read it in MLK's own words. His message has truly been polluted in a shameful way over the years, culminating in hateful diatribes at his own wife's funeral. Thanks for shedding light and reminding us what MLK really stood for. He, indeed, was great.

[lwm]

Hmm, I wonder who King would vote for on this issue:

"Vote for the best new business name to bring capitalism to Islamofacists"

[Alex]

Dan,
I find it interesting that you assume the speakers invited by King's family, especially the Rev. Lowery, one of King's best friends and the co-founder with him of the SCLC, were somehow disrespecting the family's wishes - even though, as I said, they were invited by the family, and the family has made no statements condemning the speeches.

I also find it interesting, telling, and ultimately pathetic that you chose to leave this part out of the speech following the church bombing:

"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 event may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience. (Yeah)"

Was that not said with the goal of advancing the cause, do you think?

It's also funny that you chose to include this paragraph:

"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."

as some sort of evidence of him as a meek, mild unpolitical speaker, and it shows the depths of your ignorance concerning King's views. In fact, he's expressing there the message he expressed every day. He expressed it, too, in his many speeches against war. Coretta, by the way, told CNN in 2003 that there was not a doubt in her mind that her husband would have stood against the war in Iraq were he still alive.

Do you really think that either of the Kings, when they had the president of the U.S. in their presence on a national stage, would have not taken the opportunity to tell them exactly what they thought?

Shame on you for presuming to tell a family how to honor the memory of their mother.

[Honey]

I linked it...
Posted by: Dan | Thursday, February 09, 2006 at 07:00 AM

You linked to an article -about- it, by Rev. William G. Sinkford. I linked to the eulogy, below.
----------------

The quote you posted below, which I deleted, isn't King, it's the guy writing the article. Duh!

Posted by: Honey | Thursday, February 09, 2006 at 07:15 AM

Incorrect. The entire eulogy is under the title Witness to Truth by Martin Luther King:
http://www.ptsem.edu/Publications/inspire2/6.2/feature_4/feature4_index.htm

Apparently you didn't realize that the whole thing, beginning:

These beautiful words from Shakespeare's...

and ending:
"So we thank God for the life of James Reeb...

is the entire eulogy. Do the research, dude, and if you don't like facts, delete my articles, don't alter them. That's censorship.

[Honey]

For too long the left has gotten away with mining Dr. King's speeches for any shred of ideological support, while attacking anyone else who dares to quote larger sections. Does that seem right to you?

Bravo, Dan.

Posted by: Bullgator | Thursday, February 09, 2006 at 08:15 AM

Um, that's exactly what Dan did. I posted the part he left out. You can read Reeb's -entire- eulogy here:

http://www.uuworld.org/pdfs/reebeulogymayjune01.pdf

or here:

http://www.ptsem.edu/Publications/inspire2/6.2/feature_4/feature4_index.htm

and the eulogy for the little girls at Birmingham here:

http://www.nathanielturner.com/bluesforbirmingham3.htm

[MrsLevy]

MLK was a man of peace who spoke out against racism and war.

That's exactly what people did at the funeral of his wife.

[MrsLevy]

In his own words:

And the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace. Every time we drop our bombs in North Vietnam, President Johnson talks eloquently about peace. What is the problem? They are talking about peace as a distant goal, as an end we seek, but one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. All of this is saying that, in the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and ultimately destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., "A CHRISTMAS SERMON" 24 December 1967

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation... I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow... I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., Address in Acceptance of Nobel Peace Prize - 10 December 1964

[MrsLevy]

On war:

"King Quotes
I want to say one other challenge that we face is simply that we must find an alternative to war and bloodshed. Anyone who feels, and there are still a lot of people who feel that way, that war can solve the social problems facing mankind is sleeping through a great revolution. President Kennedy said on one occasion, "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." The world must hear this. I pray to God that America will hear this before it is too late, because today we’re fighting a war.

I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war in Vietnam has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation. It has put us against the self-determination of a vast majority of the Vietnamese people, and put us in the position of protecting a corrupt regime that is stacked against the poor.

It has played havoc with our domestic destinies. This day we are spending five hundred thousand dollars to kill every Vietcong soldier. Every time we kill one we spend about five hundred thousand dollars while we spend only fifty-three dollars a year for every person characterized as poverty-stricken in the so-called poverty program, which is not even a good skirmish against poverty.

Not only that, it has put us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation. And here we are ten thousand miles away from home fighting for the so-called freedom of the Vietnamese people when we have not even put our own house in order. And we force young black men and young white men to fight and kill in brutal solidarity. Yet when they come back home that can’t hardly live on the same block together.

The judgment of God is upon us today. And we could go right down the line and see that something must be done—and something must be done quickly. We have alienated ourselves from other nations so we end up morally and politically isolated in the world. There is not a single major ally of the United States of America that would dare send a troop to Vietnam, and so the only friends that we have now are a few client-nations like Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and a few others.

This is where we are. "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind," and the best way to start is to put an end to war in Vietnam, because if it continues, we will inevitably come to the point of confronting China which could lead the whole world to nuclear annihilation.

It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence. And the alternative to disarmament, the alternative to a greater suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world, may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation, and our earthly habitat would be transformed into an inferno that even the mind of Dante could not imagine."

--Martin Luther King, Jr., Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution

[Phoenix]

How ironic. This post and commentary is the perfect microcosm of Coretta Scott King's funeral. Dan paid tribute to the greatness of the Kings' work and subsequent legacy. He mentioned the abomination of a few base individuals using the funeral as a platform to insult a sitting president - who, by the way, looked all the better for it for being graceful and presidential. But he spent far more time praising the lives and efforts of the King family with some beautiful quoted words and sincere commentary. Now, like those base individuals who used the funeral lecturn to spew their hate, some commenters here have done the same picking apart anything they can to disabuse Dan of his rightful opinion and to tarnish his efforts to laud the memory of the Kings.

Pitiful.

[Sandra Allen-Redman aka Honey]

Now, like those base individuals who used the funeral lecturn to spew their hate, some commenters here have done the same picking apart anything they can to disabuse Dan of his rightful opinion and to tarnish his efforts to laud the memory of the Kings.

Pitiful.

Posted by: Phoenix | Thursday, February 09, 2006 at 09:20 PM

If Dan wants to cherry pick quotes out of King eulogies to prove his totally mistaken point, who are we to post the truth? If Dan says MLK's eulogies weren't political, and radically political, at that, all it does is show he hasn't read them and that he's ignoring the fact that both the Kings were vocal hardcore liberals, who devoted their lives to being advocates of the left. You're saying you know more about them than their close friends of 30-40 years and their family. The right wing hated him and called him a communist. Why do you think Hoover started a smear campaign against the Kings and tried to blackmail Dr. King? Why do you think Dr. King was murdered?

Now it's your turn. Explain how quoting -all- of King's speeches is picking anything apart apart.

[lwm]

Dan, I know you're having fun posting about blow-up dolls and whatnot, but I really am surprised you have not responded to this discussion.

[Phoenix]

Oh, Honey,.... I swann, I am so damned sorry if I misspoke. DO forgive me, won't you.

You WILL pahdon me now whilst I rush off to Bible class. Kiss kiss.

[Phoenix]

lwm,

You are??