IN MEMORIAM...Coretta Scott King
There is a spirit and a need and a man at the beginning of every great human advance. Every one of these must be right for that particular moment of history, or nothing happens.
---Coretta Scott King
It is stunning that on the day of the State of the Union address is to take place and Judge Alito is confirmed that it is also the day that Mrs. Coretta Scott King passes. The news comes with a jolting irony. For today is a sad day for our nation and for the dismal leadership example it demonstrates for other leaders, our children and the world. It is not that Judge Alito is not a highly qualified candidate. Those who have hung their hats on this issue, missed the point. The price is far greater than one qualified candidate. It is a both a loss and a call to move into action again. As I have written before, what is shameful is that the best the "leader of the free world" could do in looking at the diversity of talent in this country is to place TWO white males on the highest court of the land, setting progress back decades with sweeping implications on the most vulnerable in this country. Even more shameful was watching the majority of the Congress and Senate succumb to political pressures without the courage to even recognize this failure of leadership, nor the fortitude to stand up for something better.
Changing things for the good of all people requires personal leadership from more than one leader. Rosa Parks reflected on this herself. She wrote in her book Quiet Strength:
"Many people do not know the whole truth; I would like them to know I was not the only person involved. I was just one of many who fought for freedom. And many others around me began to want to fight for their rights as well.
At the time, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was emerging on the scene. He once said, "If you will protest courageously and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say: there lived a great people---a black people---who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization." It was these words that guided many of us as we faced the trials and tribulations of fighting for our rights."
Today, perhaps in quiet sorrow, our nation's heart breaks for leaders who have not had the conviction to reach beyond their empty rehtoric to carry on the promise of inclusion --- to pick up the torch and continue to bring "new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization". Today, our leaders let us down. The process let us down. ...and all of us, many of us, may not have even noticed.
The journey will continue not in words, but in actions by millions of people who believe there is something better for all people than we see in this nation today and across the world. The courage to carry on comes from the role models we still have today that remind us, it is a long walk to freedom...
"...I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities... For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. --- Nelson Mandela
We shall overcome...
What contribution will you make through your own personal leadership?
Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
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