Posted on 02/04/2006 9:58:43 AM PST by NYpeanut
I interviewed Coretta Scott King once. It cost $5,000.
In 1985, I approached the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta seeking that interview and permission to use old audio of Coretta's husband for a radio documentary. I was told it would cost five grand for the audio rights, and it was made clear that unless that money was paid, there would be no interview.
The ethical constraints of a radio production house are different from those of a news organization; we made the deal. I didn't like it, but I rationalized it by telling myself it was an honor to contribute to the upkeep of a legendary legacy.
Amazing what you can make yourself believe.
Coretta Scott King died this week, five months after suffering a heart attack and stroke. She is being widely and lavishly eulogized. "A remarkable and courageous woman," said the president. "A staunch freedom fighter," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The praise is deserved. There was majesty and grace in Coretta Scott King, a strength of heart that was displayed nowhere more clearly than at her husband's death. Like Jacqueline Kennedy before her, she mourned inconceivable loss with awesome dignity. Since then, she has been a tireless defender of the dream her husband articulated in August of 1963.
She shielded it against racism, pessimism and defeatism. She was less successful against commercialism.
And I don't mean the piddling $5,000. That's a small symptom of the larger malady. I refer you to the King family's 1993 lawsuit against USA Today for reprinting the "I Have A Dream" speech and their subsequent licensing of King's image and voice for use in television commercials, one of which placed him between Homer Simpson and Kermit the Frog. Then there's the attempt to sell his personal papers for $20 million. Perhaps most galling was the family's demand to be paid to allow construction of a King monument on the Washington Mall.
Yes, it's all legal. But if Dr. King's life taught us nothing else, it taught us that legality and morality are not necessarily the same.
I don't mind the King family making money. But not at the cost of Martin Luther King's dignity. Granted, dignity is subjective, and you might draw the line in a different place than I. But I suspect most of us would agree that when a martyr, minister and American hero becomes a TV character hawking cell phones with Homer Simpson, that line has been well and truly crossed.
Coretta Scott King founded the King Center, and it has always been controlled by the family. So it seems plain that she approved this money-grubbing or at least tolerated it. And as a result, her kids have lost their minds.
Particularly the sons, Martin III and Dexter, recently seen publicly feuding over which one will have the six-figure job of running the King Center. Meantime, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tells us the facility is in need of $11 million in repairs and that $4.2 million of center money has been paid since 2000 to a company Dexter owns. This would be the same Dexter who, in 1995, visited Graceland for tips on how to exploit his father's image as Lisa Marie Presley has exploited her father's.
Martin Luther King, it seems necessary to say, was not Elvis Presley. He was a man who stood for something and died for something. That something was not profit. That something belonged to all of us. One wonders if the loss of their mother will shock his children into understanding this.
I'd like to think so. But had you visited the King Center Web site three days after Coretta died looking for a tribute, here's what you'd have found: a press release, a quote from Dr. King, and a request for money. "Make an online donation in loving memory," it said.
You can do it if you want. Me, I gave at the office.
Philandering, too.
OMG. This is not kidding?
BTTT
A stewardess approached Mrs. King and asked if she would like to move to first class where there were some empty seats. She graciously declined, said she was comfortable where she was, and continued her conversation with her friend which I could not help but overhear.
It was banal, gossipy, somewhat catty, something you might overhear in a beauty parlor. At the Washington airport she was met by some kind of delegation and whisked away. I went away, however,with the impression that she was a rather ordinary woman who simply had had the misfortune of having had her philandering husband murdered.
Excuse me Pitts?
Hey, if the coffee doesn't work by drinking it, go to that joint in Mexico and get their coffee enema.
Oh ... that's right. They closed down after Coretta left.
The title should have been "Commercialism DEFINES King Legacy"
all I can say is, "t'was ever thus...."
Maybe on second thought the subtitle should have been
"Tired journalistic cliches mar King Legacy"
'twas ever thus" also
"courageous .....quiet dignity......blah blah blah"
Let's hear from someone who doesn't have a political axe
to grind.
I DIDN'T MEAN T0 IMPUGN PITTS-----THIS PIECE IS VERY GOOD, BUT CONTAINS THE OBLIGATORY QUOTES FROM JESSE, ET.AL.
Why don't you keep that racist tripe to yourself.
I found it on a Google search. Didn't read but the headline. I'll revisit it and if it's racist, I will ask the AM to remove that comment. Thanks for the heads-up, w.
If you have any doubt, just click on "Who We Are"
I've asked the AM to delete the link to those skunks. I did revisit the site and you're right: it is racist crap.
Thanks for the heads-up. I apologize to all on this thread for not checking carefully before posting that link.
MLK was a great man...just let all the 'other' stuff go, he was only human.
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