As Senate Democrats protested the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Massachusetts Senator — Elizabeth Warren was kept from quoting a letter by Coretta Scott King, slain civil rights activist Martin Luther KingJr.’s wife.
The letter in question was a three-decade-old letter one in which King voices her opposition to Sessions’ judicial nomination at the time, which ultimately failed. By attempting to quote the letter, the Senate found Warren in violation of rule No. 19, which states that senators cannot “directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a senator.”
But who is Coretta Scott King?
Coretta, who met King while she was studying concert singing at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, married the leader of the civil rights movement in 1953. She took on the duties of pastor’s wife at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and dedicated her life to raising their four children.
Coretta remained one of her husband’s biggest supports as he became one of the more important activists in the country’s history. An active humanitarian, Coretta divided her time between the church, her children, and fighting against racial and economic injustice. She rallied for women’s rights, gay rights and religious freedoms as she traveled across the world with her husband to lend their voice to democratic movements.
King was assassinated in 1968 but Coretta continued to fight for justice and also opened the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, to push for the rights of minorities. She died in 2006.
Coretta Scott King, wife of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. is flanked by two of her children, Reverend Bernice King (left) and Martin Luther King, III, (right) while speaking at the 36th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Service in Atlanta on Jan. 19, 2004. Photo: REUTERS/Tami Chappell TLC/GAC
Even though Warren was not allowed to read Coretta’s letter out loud in the Senate, she used Facebook’s Live feature to spread her message right outside the upper house.
Read the letter below:
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