Tomorrow will be the day that the nation will funeralize the first lady of the Civil Rights Movement, Mrs. Coretta Scott King.

This most dismal event has been heavily publicized in most of the national and local media. Being near Atlanta, I’m constantly hearing the latest updates on the plans for memorial services, vigils, and other celebrations of her life. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has covered the death in an excellent manner, providing information about her and her legacy in the most respectable way.

Even in her death, Mrs. King made history; becoming the first African-American to lie in state at the Georgia Capitol Building, an honor that was denied to her late husband. Her funeral tomorrow will be a star-studded farewell, with dignitaries such as President George Bush and wife Laura Bush, Former President Bill Clinton and wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former President George H.W. Bush, Former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn Carter, Senator Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Bebe Winans, Stevie Wonder, and the good Rev. Al Sharpton.

There are reports that President George Bush will be making remarks at the funeral. Let’s pray and hope that he has written remarks and doesn’t attempt to ad-lib. For some reason, I’m very certain that his remarks will be appropriate for the occasion.

I’m certain that all 10,000 seats at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church where youngest daughter Bernice King is an associate minister will be filled tomorrow. As we bid farewell to Mrs. King, let us use her life and the legacy that she leaves behind as a catalyst for change in the future.

“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.” “I’m fulfilled in what I do. . . I never thought that a lot of money or fine clothes — the finer things of life — would make you happy. My concept of happiness is to be filled in a spiritual sense.”
~Coretta Scott King