Atlanta pastor, Evers' widow named to speak at inauguration

[jenmito]

Last edited Tue Jan 8, 2013, 05:16 PM - Edit history (1)

(CNN)– The widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers and an Atlanta pastor will deliver the invocation and benediction at President Barack Obama's inauguration January 21, the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Tuesday.

The committee said in a statement that the president was involved in selecting Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of Medgar Evers, to deliver the invocation and the Rev. Louie Giglio, pastor of the Passion City Church, to deliver the benediction.

Obama said he and Vice President Joe Biden are honored to have the two participate in the inaugural ceremony.

"Their voices have inspired many people across this great nation within the faith community and beyond. Their careers reflect the ideals that the vice president and I continue to pursue for all Americans - justice, equality, and opportunity," the president's statement continued.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/08/giglio-and-evers-williams-selected-to-pray-at-the-inauguration/

[DreamGypsy]

1. Myrlie Evers-Williams. Sometimes we forget or don't know about the wives...

and the families of those whose names we know so well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrlie_Evers-Williams

Myrlie met and fell in love with Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran several years her senior.[4] The couple married on Christmas Eve of 1951.[5] They would move to Mound Bayou, have three children, Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke.[6] In Mound Bayou, Myrlie worked as a secretary at the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company.

<snip>

As prominent civil rights leaders in Mississippi, the Everses became high-profile targets for pro-segregationist violence and terrorism.[10] In 1962, their home in Jackson was firebombed in reaction to an organized boycott of downtown Jackson’s white merchants.[11] The family had been threatened, and Evers targeted by the Ku Klux Klan.

The violence reached its worst point the following year, when Medgar was gunned down by a sniper in front of his home on the evening of June 12, 1963. Myrlie Evers was home with the three children when gunshots rang out. The children dove to the floor as they had been taught. Myrlie rushed outside to find her husband bleeding from wounds in his back. Medgar Evers was shot and killed in front of his home by a white supremacist named Byron De La Beckwith.

<snip>

Besides her quest for justice, Myrlie rebuilt her life after her husband's death. After De La Beckwith's second trial in 1967, she moved with her children to Claremont, California, and emerged as a civil rights activist in her own right.[14] She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology at Pomona College.[15] She spoke on behalf of the NAACP and co-wrote For Us, the Living, which chronicled her late husband's life and work in 1967.[16] She also made two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Congress in 1970.[17] From 1968-1970 Myrlie was the director of planning at the center for Educational Opportunity at Claremont College.

From 1973-1975 Myrlie was the vice president for advertising and publicity at the New York based advertising firm, Seligman and Lapz. In 1975, she moved to Los Angeles to become the national director for community affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). With ARCO she was responsible for developing and managing all the corporate programs. This included overseeing funding for community projects, outreach programs, public and private partnership programs and staff development. She helped secure money for many organizations such as the National Woman’s Educational Fund, and worked with a group that provided meals to the poor and homeless. In 1976, she married Walter Williams, a longshoreman and civil rights and union activist who had studied Evers and his work.

.... justice, equality, and opportunity ...

[jenmito]

2. Thanks for the informative post!

[DreamGypsy]

3. Thank you for the original post.

The news item inspired me to learn something and to understand better the human impacts of history. And to understand that people can overcome the past and lead fulfilling lives.

[jenmito]

5. No problemo.

If you watch MSNBC, Al Sharpton is gonna talk about this in a minute. (Your article taught ME something, too.)

[SidDithers]

4. DU rec...nt

Sid

[Spazito]

6. I found it very moving that President Obama and his committee have asked Mrs. Ever-Williams...

to deliver the invocation, she is a perfect choice for so many reasons.

[jenmito]

7. This choice is a MILLION times better than his '08 choice of Rick Warren! n/t

[Spazito]

8. I completely agree, 180 degrees away from Warren...

thank goodness!

[Cha]

9. All right then.. Thanks again, jenmito.. I really love this choice from PBO and VPB..

Myrlie Evers-Williams and her children, Reena, Van and Darrell, photographed shortly after her husband (and their father), Medgar Evers, was assassinated in 1963. Fifty years later she will deliver the invocation for the inauguration of the President of the United States.

“I am humbled to have been asked to deliver the invocation for the 57th inauguration of the President of the United States – especially in light of this historical time in America when we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement.” (NBC)




Jerry Mitchell (May 2011): It is a life path difficult to imagine.

Aspiring concert pianist turned back by Jim Crow.

Marries Medgar Evers, a leader for the young civil rights movement in Mississippi.

Works as both his secretary and a stay-at-home mother.

Hears a shot just after midnight, June 12, 1963, and she dashes out to see that her husband has been assassinated, shot in the driveway of their home. Her children follow, see their mother cradling him in a pool of blood and cry out for daddy to get up.

He never does…..

http://theobamadiary.com/

As a posted pointed out.. " .. the civil right that was central to Medgar's struggle and death was the right to vote."

[jenmito]

10. Yeah, I posted this here first thinking it my be off-topic in Politics, but

nobody replied for a while so I posted it in Politics, too. Thanks for kickin' it here and adding that extra pic/info. (I hardly ever come to the General Discussion Forum.)

[Cha]

12. Pro Sense

posts in GD and there are others I like, too. I Just ignore all those that don't interest me.

[jenmito]

13. Oh...

that's good to know. I'll come here more often then. It just seems so anti-Obama-even more than the Politics forum.

[Cha]

14. I'm sure it is.. I just have

a fat ignore list and I trashcan that talk when I see it.

[jenmito]

15. Hmmm...

I don't have anyone on ignore. maybe I should start.

[Cha]

16. I just checked..

9 posters have me on ignore.. yesterday it was 10. And, 10 have me blocked from private emails.. as if I'd send an email to anyone who wasn't a friend.

No one has you on ignore, jenmito.. you're such a sweetie!

[jenmito]

17. I don't even know how to check if people have me on ignore or blocked me from private emails,

but I don't think anyone would have a reason to do it. Yes, I AM such a sweetie. Not really. You should see me on Twitter. A few stupid RWers/birthers blocked me after I told one of them they're stupid and so, "buh bye." They all refused to believe that the poorest states are RED states. It was a fun night.

[Cha]

18. ..

Just click on your Profile and click on Transparency page.. and click again for some people because nothing shows up the first time if there's no activity in last 3 months. Finally it will show you have no posts hidden or posters Ignoring you.

Good job on Twitter!

[jenmito]

19. Thanks!

And I have 8 people blocking me and blocking mail (which I'd never send) from me! I must be doing something right here, too!

[Cha]

20. Really! that particular

facet must not be working for me then.. 'cause I see nothing on yours. Oh well, at least you know now.. and, you're not as "sweet" as I thought.

[jenmito]

21. Yup!

I had to click on "Show me my Transparency page." Yeah, I guess I play hardball with some of these losers.

[CakeGrrl]

11. K/R

[GObamaGO]

22. So glad he did not opt for someone like Joel Osteen

To follow up his choosing freaking Rick Warren for the last inauguration.