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.While thesedesignations are factually correct, I would also like tobe thought of as a complex, three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood human being with a rich storehouse ofexperiences, much like everyone else yet unique in myown way.much like everyone else.EPILOGUEOn January 30, 2006, at about 1:00 a.m., Coretta Scott Kingdied in her sleep, of what was officially deemed respiratoryfailure.She was 78 years old.It was a peaceful end to what wasperhaps the harshest period of her life since her husband sassassination 38 years before.In mid-August 2005, she hadsuffered a minor heart attack and a major stroke that left herpartially paralyzed and barely able to speak.(Working witha speech therapist, she had eventually managed to sing ablessing for a woman who had trained as a classical singer andplanned on a professional singing career until she met herhusband.) Then, even more cruelly, while still recovering fromthe effects of the stroke, she was diagnosed with advanced-stage ovarian cancer.After exhausting what few treatmentoptions were available for her terminal illness, she soughtalternative holistic therapy at a small clinic that some wouldcall disreputable its founder holds no medical degree, and ithas been sanctioned numerous times by authorities in Playade Rosarito, Mexico.Coretta s younger daughter, Bernice, waswith her at the clinic when she died.Coretta s body was flown home to Atlanta, where morethan 150,000 mourners filed past her open coffin to pay theirrespects at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where Mar-tin Luther King, Jr., had preached as well as in the rotundaof the Georgia capitol, where Coretta was both the first woman121The Dream Continuedand the first African American to be so honored.Federal andstate flags flew at half staff.The six-hour funeral service was held at the huge NewBirth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, where Berniceis a minister.Before the funeral began, thousands of mourn-ers, some of whom had been waiting in line since 3:00 a.m.,slowly marched past the coffin for a final chance to say good-bye.One woman noted,  I believe everyone should pay tributebecause the King family has done so much for us. A manwho had come with his young daughter voiced what manywere probably feeling when he said,  It s good to finally seeher at peace.The funeral began at noon, and the church s 10,000 seatsquickly filled to capacity.The distinguished attendees includedfour presidents (George W.Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W.Bush, and Jimmy Carter); 14 senators and several congress-men; notable artists such as poet Maya Angelou and singerStevie Wonder; and prominent civil rights leaders like AndrewYoung, Joseph Lowery, and Jesse Jackson, who had stood onthe front lines with Martin Luther King, Jr.More than three dozen speakers sang Coretta s praises,including Bishop Eddie L.Long, head of the church, whosaid in his opening call to worship,  We are better becauseshe was here.We are all in a better place, doing greaterthings. The occasion became politically charged when anumber of the speakers most conspicuously Jimmy Cartertook the opportunity to continue Coretta s fight against injus-tice by chiding George W.Bush s administration for spendingbillions on the Iraq war while millions at home lived in direpoverty.Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin noted that Corettabattled not just against racism but also the  senselessness ofwar and the solutions for poverty.She s gathered us heretoday from all walks of life and all persuasions to lift ourvoices in a song of freedom, equality, social and economicjustice, not just for our own sake but for the sake of children122CORETTA SCOTT KINGthe world over. Still, former president Bill Clinton remindedthe mourners that Coretta was a human being as well as anicon.He also focused on Coretta s children, pointing out thatthey not only had to cope with the death of their belovedmother, they also shouldered the responsibility of continuingher and their father s legacy.After numerous hymns of glory made even more stirringwith the backing of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and a200-member choir and words of praise, daughter Berniceconcluded the funeral [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]