And dang but that Jesse Jackson can preach. I’ve seem him give speeches before, but until you’ve seen him get behind the pulpit with a choir backing him up (or Aretha Franklin, as was the case today), you ain’t seen Jesse in action.
Al Sharpton impressed me too, although not immediately. At first he wasn’t really saying anything of substance. But then he got pretty hardcore political-- but not the nutty Al Sharpton that I’d expected. Just political, with an emphasis on social justice.
I wished I could’ve seen Clinton speak, but I was still standing in line (total wait time: 5 1/2 hours).
BTW, I finally got up and left at hour seven of the funeral, and this thing was still going strong at that point. :eek:
I’m not the biggest JJ fan, but I saw him up close giving a speech at a Get Out the Vote rally back in '88 and the guy was phenomenal. His delivery and charisma don’t even remotely translate in a TV sound byte.
Are you in Detroit? Or was their national coverage?
Before the funeral, there was a viewing at the African-American Museum in Detroit, and it was open to the public from about 5 or 6 last night til 5 this morning, with a constant stream of people going through. At 5 this morning, they actually had to turn close to 1,000 people away that had been waiting to get in.
At the funeral itself, there were about 5,000 people allowed in the church, and there were probably another 1,000 or so outside. My co-workers and I got there at about 10 this morning, and didn’t get in the church til about 4:30.
Every half hour or so, I thought about throwing in the towel, but then I kept saying, “well, we already waited this long…”
I’m not the biggest JJ fan either, but you’re right, his in-person charisma is something else. I’m not the biggest Sharpton fan either, but he also impressed me. I wasn’t the biggest Louis Farrakhan fan going into this, and after hearing him speak, I’m still not. I think several in the crowd were a bit dismayed hearing him preach the gospel.
I wish at least one channel or network had given full coverage. From the little bit that I did see, now there was a tribute!
I envy you for getting to be there, Happy. That will be something for your great-grandchildren to talk about. Be sure to put it down in your own handwriting to pass on to future generations.
Isn’t it interesting that the bus that she rode on that day is in Dearborn – not so far from where she rests?
one of the speakers (from mich.) mentioned her bus in dearborn. he said that the person in charge of dearborn at that time was very determined to keep segregation there. pressure was brought to bear, things changed, and now mrs parks’ bus is there.
i was watching msnbc and cnn. they would cut away or have commentary from people who were not there, or show charles and camilla in dc.
i also thought mr farrakhan’s remarks were a bit odd. i wondered if there had been a conversion.
[QUOTE=rocking chair]
one of the speakers (from mich.) mentioned her bus in dearborn. he said that the person in charge of dearborn at that time was very determined to keep segregation there. pressure was brought to bear, things changed, and now mrs parks’ bus is there.
[QUOTE]
Yeah, that was Mayor Orville Hubbard, very notorious segregationist, who was mayor for 35 years. Although he did very good things for the city of Dearborn, the negative effects of his reign are still hovering over the city.
Her bus being here isn’t really related to the fact of Dearborn’s segregationist history. It’s at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, which also houses the chair Lincoln was shot in, the convertible JFK was shot in, and a number of other artifacts. If you’re ever in the Detroit area, I recommend a visit.
Yeah, I saw him once in the early '90’s; growing up in the upper-middle class white community where a good speech is one in which the speaker’s jokes are funny, I had no idea what a real orator could do to you.
If there is every a DVD of her funeral, I would like to know about it. Imus showed a clip of one of the old time evangelists speaking and it was such a joyful thing to see. I wish more farewells were like that.