Rich Benjamin

Remembering Coretta Scott King, For the Here and Now

When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated more than 40 years ago, Coretta Scott King saw fit to give him proper tribute. Than she busied herself with the work of the country. Months later, she represented the movement at the launch of the Poor People's Campaign at the Lincoln Memorial, June 19, 1968.

It's time for us, too, to give proper tribute to a beautiful avatar of hope against hatred and poverty. And then to get to work. That spring day, months after Memphis, Coretta Scott King declared it’s time to form "a solid block of women power to fight the three great evils of racism, poverty and war."

Like any leader ahead of her time, Coretta Scott King's ideas resonate years after being uttered. She used her "maiden name," not just because it roles off the tongue so elegantly, but as a recognition of past and self-determination. She bucked the black religious establishment by tirelessly defending gay and lesbian rights. But maybe, her most pressing, necessary legacy is for non-violence and against poverty.

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote again on the Deficit Reduction Act, which the administration supports. This bill bequeaths to our children deep cuts in health care, child care, child support enforcement, foster care and student loans. The bill would slash $39.7 billion over five years, affecting a number of important services that help poor and working-class families. A war rages without adequate defense of purpose or objective. Civil rights are as vulnerable as they've been in the last five years.

Though we are a world away from Selma and Montgomery, Coretta Scott King inspires as ever.

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Posted at 11:17 AM, Jan 31, 2006 in Civil Rights
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