"Turning a Funeral Pulpit Into A Political Soapbox"

Despite the standing ovations received by former President Jimmy Carter and the Rev. Joseph Lowery at the funeral for Coretta Scott King, many of the the political barbs aimed at President Bush that drew the ovations were not as well received elsewhere.

Star Parker writing in Townhall today:

It's sad to say but it must be said. It should be clear to anyone who watched the tasteless politicization of Coretta Scott King's funeral by a black minister and by a former president why the black community remains, after all these years, as troubled as it is.

Children of the civil rights movement of the '60s are grandparents today. Babies born after the Civil Rights Act are now parents. Yet, despite the passing of generations, not only do many of the problems in the black community persist, but by many important measures, we're much worse off than we were 50 years ago.

Why do things go on with so little change? Why do they get worse?

One big reason, as the Rev. Joseph Lowery so aptly demonstrated at Mrs. King's funeral, is that those who have exercised leadership in our community since those days in the 1960s, those whom black citizens have listened to and heeded, have never understood, or never wanted to understand, when it's time to turn off the politics and the show business.