State of The South

Mrs. King passed away today, the Queen Mother of the South. Will we ever feel such a genuinely regal presence again? Coretta Scott King was composed of a true, noble character. She embodied ideals of Southern womanhood, perhaps ideals aspired to by older generations of women, but timeless values nonetheless, and she was instantly recognizable for a particular comportment rarely witnessed in a public figure, then or now.

Never in public did we ever hear a word of complaint, anger or bitterness from her lips. She was modest and beautiful, faithful and stoic, strong and committed. She cast an aura of warmth and kindness in every step, and she wore a perennial gaze of wisdom, intelligence and pride, although one lowlit with a shadow of sadness and strife.

The depth of her inner reserves of courage and faith must have been of divine, unfathomable proportions as Mrs. King was forced to live much of her life in what must be every mother's nightmare - an inescapable comprehension that there are twisted, dangerous people always lurking, just beyond the reach of the law, who wish to harm not only one's husband, but one's children. Such was the level of evil and rage that permeated the South in the midst of the race war of the Civil Rights movement.

For her, we should never forget that time - nor our history.

So many came to pay respects (and coverage) throughout the day to Coretta Scott at the King Center on Auburn Avenue . How obvious it was that so very few of the hundreds of faces were white ones. How shameful really, as she has always been there - for all of us.

tag: Coretta Scott King