For once. Of my country.
Coretta Scott King's funeral was amazing.
Robert Kennedy's speech reminded me of a time when religion represented community, myth, ritual, solidarity...all the things that make being around other humans actually enjoyable. He quoted the Beatitudes in reference to Coretta's life, and it actually sounded like poetry.
Poet Maya Angelou sang her comments in a soul style of the Southern black church it was held in.
"We owe something from this minute on, so that this gathering is not just another footnote on the pages of history," she said, wagging her very formidable black-mama finger right at Bush sitting behind her.
The 'Rev' as Bill Clinton who free-styled his own hilariously cool speech, referred to him, boomed to a standing ovation, 'well, there sure weren't any weapons of mass destruction.'
Again, Bush was standing in the background and was forced to smile as 3 former presidents and thousands of black folk cheered for a straight minute. HA!
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin - whom I would walk barefoot all the way to Washington to see as our next president - injected politics into her remarks, describing how Coretta Scott King spoke out against "the senselessness of war" with a voice that was heard "from the tintop roofs of Soweto to the bomb shelters of Baghdad."
Jimmy Carter was the toughest of all. He brought up the government response to Katrina, saying, "We only have to recall the color of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi" to know that inequality exists." He also noted that the Kings once were "victims of secret government wiretapping" - echoing Bush's domestic spying program. And he gave credit for his presidency to Coretta, saying it was her and Martin Luther King's shaking his hand publicly across the southern states that got him elected.
I have hope for a brighter future again. So our current president looks like a 9 year old with ADD that has to pee whenever he's forced to show up for something meaningful.
This too, shall piss. I mean, pass.
Things are gonna get better. There's too much of a legacy of conviction and powerful partnerships like Coretta and Martin's behind this country for ignorance to completely take over.