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BumRushDaShow

(127,327 posts)
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 04:41 AM Mar 2020

Joseph Lowery, Civil Rights Leader and MLK Aide, Dies at 98

Source: AP/NYT

ATLANTA -- The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery fought to end segregation, lived to see the election of the country's first black president and echoed the call for "justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream" in America.

For more than four decades after the death of his friend and civil rights icon, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the fiery Alabama preacher was on the front line of the battle for equality, with an unforgettable delivery that rivaled King's -- and was often more unpredictable. Lowery had a knack for cutting to the core of the country's conscience with commentary steeped in scripture, refusing to back down whether the audience was a Jim Crow racist or a U.S. president.

"We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back; when brown can stick around; when yellow will be mellow; when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right," Lowery prayed at President Barack Obama's inaugural benediction in 2009.

Lowery, 98, died Friday at home in Atlanta, surrounded by family members, they said in a statement. He died from natural causes unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak, the statement said."Tonight, the great Reverend Joseph E. Lowery transitioned from earth to eternity," The King Center in Atlanta remembered Lowery in a Friday night tweet. "He was a champion for civil rights, a challenger of injustice, a dear friend to the King family."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/03/28/us/ap-us-obit-joseph-lowery-a-life.html



Wow. What a loss. Hadn't heard much from/about him but then he was 98!

R.I.P. and thank you for your contribution to so much related to the Civil Rights movement and having been a steady presence through the current time.

ETA - I know Joe Madison used to have him on his SiriusXM show ("Urban View" ch. 126) a lot in the past, so I am sure he will probably try to do some type of memorializing at some point next week.
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Joseph Lowery, Civil Rights Leader and MLK Aide, Dies at 98 (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Mar 2020 OP
... littlemissmartypants Mar 2020 #1
Rest In Peace, Rev. Joseph Lowery gademocrat7 Mar 2020 #2
R.I.P., a job well done. sinkingfeeling Mar 2020 #3
Just saw this. A real hero. And a real loss. hlthe2b Mar 2020 #4
This is real reason why the Presidential Medal of Freedom is supposed to be awarded... NurseJackie Mar 2020 #7
RIP, Reverend Lowery. Sunriser13 Mar 2020 #5
R.I.P., Rev. Lowery wendyb-NC Mar 2020 #6
A great pioneer Catherine Vincent Mar 2020 #8
May he rest in peace. ChazII Mar 2020 #9

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
7. This is real reason why the Presidential Medal of Freedom is supposed to be awarded...
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 09:46 AM
Mar 2020

August 12, 2009 - Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony.

wendyb-NC

(3,250 posts)
6. R.I.P., Rev. Lowery
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 09:41 AM
Mar 2020

Thank you, for your impassioned work for civil rights, and equality, and being a voice for justice, long overdo.

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