Kickin' ass and taking names from beyond.

So often, funerals for famous and/or historically-relevant figures are nothing more than forums for hackneyed sentimentality, wistful remembrances and mindlessly optimistic reconstructions of the deceased.

Not so at Coretta Scott King's memorial:

A DAY of eulogising Coretta Scott King turned into in-person rebuke of President George Bush, with civil rights and political leaders assailing White House policies as evidence that the dream of social and racial equality pursued by Mrs King and her slain husband, the Reverend Martin Luther King, is far from reality.

(...)

[former president Jimmy] Carter said: "It was difficult for them personally - with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretapping, other surveillance, and as you know, harassment from the FBI."

Oh, touché Jimmy. While part of me's a little uncomfortable at the opportunistic nature of some of the comments, I somehow think that Mrs. King would've approved. Her family certainly did and by all accounts they were close-knit, in love as in activism.

The entire article is available on the Sydney Morning Herald's website.