Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Daughter, Yolanda, Dies at 51
Yolanda King, daughter to civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Santa Monica, Calif., on Tuesday, 15 May 2007. She was 51. The cause of death currently is unknown, but relatives think it may have been a heart problem, reported a King Center spokesperson. Who was Yolanda King? She became an actress, ran a production company, appeared in numerous films including "Ghosts of Mississippi" and as Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King," and was a longtime advocate for peace and nonviolence, the King family said in a statement.
"She was an actress, author, producer, advocate for peace and nonviolence, who was known and loved for her motivational and inspirational contributions to society," the King family said in a statement.
Former Mayor Andrew Young, a lieutenant of her father's who has remained close to the family, said King was going to her brother Dexter's home when she collapsed in the doorway.
Her death came less than a year and a half after her mother, Coretta Scott King, died in January 2006 after battling ovarian cancer and the effects of a stroke. Her struggle prompted her daughter to work with the

American Heart Association to raise awareness about strokes, especially among blacks.
Yolanda King, who lived in California, was an actress, ran a production company and appeared in numerous films, including "Ghosts of Mississippi." She played Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King."
"Yolanda was lovely. She wore the mantle of princess, and she wore it with dignity and charm," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, one of her father's close aides in the civil rights movement. He added she was "thoroughly committed to the movement and found her own means of expressing that commitment through drama."
The Rev.

Jesse Jackson, who also worked with her father, said: "She lived with a lot of the trauma of our struggle. The movement was in her DNA." The Rev.

Al Sharpton called her a "torch bearer for her parents and a committed activist in her own right."
White House press secretary Tony Snow said

President Bush and the first lady were sad to learn of King's death, adding, "Our thoughts are with the King family today."Yolanda King founded and led Higher Ground Productions, billed as a "gateway for inner peace, unity and global transformation." On her company's Web site, she described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change.
The flag at The King Center, where she was a board member, flew at half-staff on Wednesday.
Yolanda Denise King — nicknamed Yoki by the family — was born Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., where her father was then preaching. Her brother Martin III was born in 1957; brother Dexter in 1961; and sister Bernice in 1963.
She was just two weeks old when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus there, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott spearheaded by her father.When she was 10 weeks old, the King family home was bombed in Jan. 30, 1956, as her father attended a boycott rally. Neither she nor her mother was injured when the device exploded on the front porch.
In 1963, when she was 7, her father mentioned her and her siblings at the March on Washington, saying: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
She was 12 when her father was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968.King was a 1976 graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Mass., where she majored in theater and Afro-American studies. She also earned a master's degree in theater from New York University.
Yolanda King was the most visible of the four children during this year's Martin Luther King Day in January, the first since her mother's death.
When asked by The Associated Press at that event how she was dealing with the loss of her mother, she responded: "I connected with her spirit so strongly. I am in direct contact with her spirit, and that has given me so much peace and so much strength."
At her father's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, she performed a series of solo skits that told stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Ala.
She also urged the audience to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year to ask tough questions about their own beliefs about prejudice.
"We must keep reaching across the table and, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, feed each other," she said.

BAD COMPANY CORRUPTS GOOD MORALS. RESIST THE RAUNCH.

When Paris Hilton was sentenced to jail May 3rd for violating her probation, the hard-partying heiress won yet another 15 minutes of fame guaranteed to captivate her young admirers. Like party pals Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Nicole Richie, Paris has parlayed poor judgment and vulgar exhibitionism into idol status among America’s teen and pre-teen set.



Girls as young as five moan Britney’s racy lyrics, while their sisters in elementary and middle school copy Nicole’s compulsive dieting, Lindsay’s brazen flashing, and Paris’ sultry stare. Young women are now groomed from girlhood to arouse sexual attention by posting suggestive messages on their personal web pages and wearing the same risqué fashions as their Bratz dolls. Newsweek recently chronicled the rise of these “prosti-tots” – girls as young as seven “who dress like tarts” and dream of breast implants as high-school graduation gift.




Aspiring young exhibitionists can find role models everywhere these days, from the coeds who disrobe for “Girls Gone Wild” camera crews and publish pornographic pictures of themselves in student-run magazines, to mothers who take pole-dancing classes and wear the same see-through blouses and skin-tight jeans as their teenage daughters.
Today’s pop culture tells women that sexual power is the kind that counts most and they can achieve it by showing skin. That message has trickled down to girls, forcing them to trade carefree childhood pleasures for sexual competition.



You can see them in the mall, tugging nervously at their skimpy shorts and halter tops, straining to see how men react to their little bellies flouncing out of low-slung jeans. They look more exploited than empowered as they fuss and cringe, adjust and squirm. How odd that in an age when girls have more athletic and academic opportunities than ever, girlhood has become a high-pressure dress-rehearsal for adult mating games.
The American Psychological Association recently issued an alarming report on this trend, concluding that girls who view themselves as sex objects are more prone to academic failure, depression, eating disorders, low self-esteem, and poor self-image.



They may also be more likely to engage in sexual activity, as girls who look older tend to attract more sexual attention. That sexual activity carries risks beyond the physical for girls: A 2005 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed a strong correlation between sexual activity and depression in teenage girls – a correlation far stronger than the one seen in boys, with girls’ depression rates rising as the number of sexual partners rose. The study suggests that sexual experimentation is not a symptom but a cause of depression in teenage girls.




Many parents feel powerless to resist the objectification of their daughters. But others are fighting back. A new modesty movement is sprouting in cities from Denver to Atlanta, with Pure Fashion shows drawing crowds of modesty-conscious mothers and daughters, new retailers like Shade Clothing reporting multi-million dollar sales figures for clothes that keep private parts private, and feisty online communities like ModestyZone.net encouraging rebels against raunchy culture.
The girls and women behind this movement say they are not looking to revive gunny-sack dresses or relive the 1950s. They simply want to be seen as more than the sum of their body parts.
Their modesty message is controversial in the era of Paris and Britney. Yet it is also common sense, as even Paris seems to know. How else to explain her unprecedented choice of a collar and covered neckline for her recent court appearance? It seems that even America’s quintessential girl gone wild realizes that when she wants to be taken seriously, she must stop the striptease and show some self-respect.
(By Colleen Carroll Campbell)