Note #9088 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06045 Feb. 1, 2006
Clerk mourns Coretta Scott King
Kirkpatrick says civil-rights leader's widow was a 'formidable figure' in her own right
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE - The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has issued a statement honoring the late Coretta Scott King as the keeper of her late husband's legacy of racial equality and social change.
King, the widow of slain civil-rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., died on Jan. 30 at age 78.
In a statement issued Feb. 1, Kirkpatrick called Coretta King a "formidable figure" in her own right and a "steady, stoic presence" in the civil rights movement.
"Mrs. King understood what her husband stood for, and that he was the noble example of what humans could achieve," Kirkpatrick wrote.
Coretta King married Rev. King in 1953, becoming a supportive lieutenant to her husband during the tumultuous days of the struggle for civil rights. She became a symbol and guardian of her husband's legacy, often presiding over seminars and conferences on global issues.
Kirkpatrick noted that Mrs. King founded the multimillion-dollar Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in 1969, in the "hope of raising up younger generations of people who would follow King's methods and principles of non-violence to bring about social change and to create the loving community he envisioned."
The text of Kirkpatrick's statement:
I mourn with the nation the passing of Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. I extend my deepest sympathy, and the sympathy of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), to the children of Mrs. King, and pray that the legacy and memory of their mother and the prayers of friends and relatives will sustain them in their time of grief.
Mrs. King was a formidable figure. Determined that her husband's dream would become a reality, she continued his work for racial equality and social change while raising their four children. After her husband's assassination in 1968, Mrs. King devoted her life to his legacy, establishing the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta in 1969, and working tirelessly for a federal holiday to honor his name. In 1983, President Reagan signed a bill establishing the third Monday of every January as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday, which the nation celebrated for the first time on January 20, 1986.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, in an interview with National Public Radio, reminded us that Coretta Scott King lived and grew up in the movement with her husband and shared the philosophy of universal human rights, which began with an understanding of discrimination and racism against black Americans in the United States. Mrs. King understood what her husband stood for and that he was the noble example of what humans could achieve. She established the King Center with the hope of raising up younger generations of people who would follow King's methods and principles of non-violence to bring about social change, and to create the loving community he envisioned. As he had protested the war in Vietnam, she protested the war in Iraq and sought an end to military conflict in the Middle East and all over the world. Until recently, she continued to campaign for equality and world peace with strength and courage.
With the passing of Coretta Scott King, the nation has lost a great champion for civil rights. The quiet, steady, stoic presence and voice of the matriarch of the civil-rights movement on global issues will be missed. May her challenge and example guide and inspire us to seek peaceful alternatives.
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