Tougaloo Student Speak on Coretta Scott King
by
Crystal Daniel & Reginald Davis
Tougaloo College students grieve over the loss of a legacy with the death of Coretta Scott King, but most students felt that her death should send a resounding wake-up call to the African-American community that the time for leadership is now.
“ I feel like there is really no one left in the world now…and I am so dead serious! We have no one to look up to anymore, and I feel like the world is coming to an end. We have to step up to the plate, and I do not think we are ready,” said Ashley Williams, undecided major from Carthage.
The question posed to the group was: How would the death of Coretta Scott King affect our society? The comments are anonymous, as follows.
“It isn’t that our society is not ready to take over, it is that I don’t think our society will look at what they did way back then the way we do now. I don’t think we appreciate it. And we need to change that. That is the only way we will understand that.”
“It is our job as leaders to put it out there. It is our job to get them to see that they need to be involved. They need to care about their rights. It is up to us to make them care. “
“I haven’t seen them put it out there. I mean, I have seen people talk and the kids not listen.”
“If we want to be leaders, let’s lead our flock.”
Still, the overwhelming majority felt the time is now to “step up to the plate.” Candalaya Webster, freshman from Chicago, said, “I think there are a lot of us who are leaders, and it’s time for us to step up to the plate. And I am going to be one of them. “
Khrystal Fountain, junior special education major from Moss Point, said, “She was a wonderful activist and leader, and it is a blow to civil rights. She was 78 and had worked for a long time since her husband died, but she did so much for us when she was here“
Danielle Berry, senior English major says, “She was on of America’s greatest civil rights leaders, and she was also my soror. I was very upset when I heard she had passed. The work that she did with the Martin Luther King Foundation in Atlanta was wonderful.”
“With this generation we are seeing so many of our civil rights leaders have to take a seat now because of their age. The fate of our heritage is in our hands now so we either have to step up to the plate or turn ourselves back over to Amerikkka,” said Berry.
Greg Johnson, English major from Belzoni, Miss said, “She sacrificed a lot for the African-American community even in allowing her husband to go out and leave his family to fight for the Civil Rights movement. She is a strong Black woman, and continued Dr. King’s work in his absence.”
“Even though she has passed on, we have other leaders in the Black Community who can lead us the way that she did, says Crystal Watts, junior English major.
Tougaloo College would like to send their condolences to the rest of the world for the loss of a great leader.
