[Mb-civic] With Tribute To King, Bush Reaches Out (plus TRANSCRIPT) - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

With Tribute To King, Bush Reaches Out
NAACP Chief Praises President for Appearance

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 8, 2006; A04

President Bush paid honor to the life of Coretta Scott King from the 
pulpit of a Baptist church in suburban Atlanta yesterday, recalling that 
"as a great movement of history took shape, her dignity was a daily 
rebuke to the pettiness and cruelty of segregation."

It was the type of eloquent tribute that Americans have come to expect 
from their president when an iconic figure passes. But the presidential 
gesture took on added significance because it marks the latest step in 
the administration's effort to repair its frayed relations with many 
black civil rights and political leaders.

"President Bush was where he should have been," said Bruce S. Gordon, 
the new president of the NAACP. "Coretta Scott King is a very important 
figure in black American history and American history. I thought it was 
appropriate for the president to be there to honor her."

Bush all but ignored many black civil rights and political leaders 
during his first four years in office. Instead, he focused on building 
inroads to African American leaders through the pastors of black 
evangelical churches and business leaders who were not identified with 
the traditional civil rights agenda.

Bush became the first president since Herbert Hoover to serve a full 
term without addressing the NAACP, which many acknowledge as the 
nation's leading civil rights organization. At the same time, Bush's 
relations with the Congressional Black Caucus were frosty, contributing 
to a growing gulf between the administration and black voters.

While he often points out that his No Child Left Behind education law 
and housing policies have contributed to improved test scores among 
black students and record levels of black homeownership, those 
achievements did not seem to resonate with black Americans, according to 
polls and political experts. His connection with black America hit a 
nadir after Hurricane Katrina, when Bush's approval rating among blacks 
plummeted to 2 percent, according to one survey.

But in recent months, Bush has made an effort to forge relationships 
with leaders he once ignored. Gordon has met with Bush three times since 
September, and the White House has reached out to a long roster of black 
leaders, primarily to emphasize the president's resolve to rebuild New 
Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast region ravaged by Katrina.

"There was not a strong relationship in the first term, in part because 
of the policy agenda he set," said Donna Brazile, a Democratic 
consultant who was among 30 prominent black leaders to meet with Bush at 
the White House in December. "But then there was 2005, which you can sum 
up in one word: Katrina. After the storm, the White House struggled to 
find ways to reopen the dialogue and have a different conversation."

While Bush was greeted respectfully at the funeral, the tension between 
him and some black leaders also was evident. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, 
former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, drew a 
standing ovation when he criticized the war in Iraq, saying, "There were 
no weapons of mass destruction over there."

"For war, billions more, but no more for the poor," Lowery added as Bush 
sat behind him on the speaker's platform.

Former president Jimmy Carter, who has been critical of Bush's 
warrantless eavesdropping program, pointed out that King and her 
husband, the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., were 
targets of a "secret government surveillance" at the height of the civil 
rights movement.

"The struggle for equality is not over," Carter said. "We only have to 
recall the color of the faces in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi -- 
those most devastated by Katrina -- to know there are not yet equal 
opportunities for all Americans."

Asked about the criticism, Gordon said: "There are issues between this 
administration and the African American community. There is no question 
about it, and that is not going to change in just a few months."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020701734.html?nav=hcmodule

    President Bush Delivers Remarks at the Funeral of Coretta Scott King

    CQ Transcriptions
    Tuesday, February 7, 2006; 2:24 PM

    BUSH: To the King Family, distinguished guests and fellow citizens.
    We gather in God's house, in God's presence, to honor God's servant,
    Coretta Scott King. Her journey was long, and only briefly with a
    hand to hold. But now she leans on everlasting arms. I've come today
    to offer the sympathy of our entire nation at the passing of a woman
    who worked to make our nation whole.

    Americans knew her husband only as a young man. We knew Mrs. King in
    all the seasons of her life -- and there was grace and beauty in
    every season. As a great movement of history took shape, her dignity
    was a daily rebuke to the pettiness and cruelty of segregation. When
    she wore a veil at 40 years old, her dignity revealed the deepest
    trust in God and His purposes. In decades of prominence, her dignity
    drew others to the unfinished work of justice. In all her years,
    Coretta Scott King showed that a person of conviction and strength
    could also be a beautiful soul. This kind and gentle woman became
    one of the most admired Americans of our time. She is rightly
    mourned, and she is deeply missed.

    Some here today knew her as a girl, and saw something very special
    long before a young preacher proposed. She once said, "Before I was
    a King, I was a Scott." And the Scotts were strong, and righteous,
    and brave in the face of wrong. Coretta eventually took on the
    duties of a pastor's wife, and a calling that reached far beyond the
    doors of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

    In that calling, Dr. King's family was subjected to vicious words,
    threatening calls in the night, and a bombing at their house.
    Coretta had every right to count the cost, and step back from the
    struggle. But she decided that her children needed more than a safe
    home -- they needed an America that upheld their equality, and wrote
    their rights into law. (Applause.) And because this young mother and
    father were not intimidated, millions of children they would never
    meet are now living in a better, more welcoming country. (Applause.)

    In the critical hours of the civil rights movement, there were
    always men and women of conscience at the heart of the drama. They
    knew that old hatreds ran deep. They knew that nonviolence might be
    answered with violence. They knew that much established authority
    was against them. Yet they also knew that sheriffs and mayors and
    governors were not ultimately in control of events; that a greater
    authority was interested, and very much in charge. (Applause.)

    The God of Moses was not neutral about their captivity. The God of
    Isaiah and the prophets was still impatient with injustice. And they
    knew that the Son of God would never leave them or forsake them.

    But some had to leave before their time -- and Dr. King left behind
    a grieving widow and little children. Rarely has so much been asked
    of a pastor's wife, and rarely has so much been taken away. Years
    later, Mrs. King recalled, "I would wake up in the morning, have my
    cry, then go in to them. The children saw me going forward." Martin
    Luther King, Jr. had preached that unmerited suffering could have
    redemptive power.

    Little did he know that this great truth would be proven in the life
    of the person he loved the most. Others could cause her sorrow, but
    no one could make her bitter. By going forward with a strong and
    forgiving heart, Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's
    legacy, she built her own. (Applause.) Having loved a leader, she
    became a leader. And when she spoke, America listened closely,
    because her voice carried the wisdom and goodness of a life well lived.

    In that life, Coretta Scott King knew danger. She knew injustice.
    She knew sudden and terrible grief. She also knew that her Redeemer
    lives. She trusted in the name above every name. And today we trust
    that our sister Coretta is on the other shore -- at peace, at rest,
    at home. (Applause.) May God bless you, and may God bless our
    country. (Applause.)

    END


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