As one of the last survivors of the U.S. civil rights movement's original leadership, Joseph Lowery would have been forgiven had he retired gracefully to bask in the role he played in history 50 years ago.
Instead, the 82-year-old remains a dedicated activist, organizing rallies and marches, fighting for unpopular causes and taking every opportunity to challenge powerful people including U.S. President George W. Bush whose views and policies he opposes.Lowery first met Martin Luther King when they were both young pastors in Alabama in the early 1950s.
The two men founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957 along with pastors Ralph Abernathy and Fred Shuttlesworth and other activists. Celebrations for its 50th anniversary start on Friday.
Lowery's enduring commitment makes him a point of reference for other activists and he frequently challenges a younger generation for whom civil rights is a chapter in history books.
It also gives a clue as to how the career of Martin Luther King might have evolved had he not been assassinated in 1968.
"People continue to talk about a post-civil rights era, which implies we have won. We have won some battles but there is still a war," he said in an interview.
Lowery led the SCLC for two decades starting in 1977. He has also set up the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, which campaigns largely for local issues. But a speech last year brought him renewed national attention.
At the funeral for King's widow, Coretta Scott King, Lowery castigated Bush over Iraq while the president and his wife Laura sat in the audience.
"We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here," he said.
The speech was criticized as inappropriate given the setting. But Lowery defends it.
"I would never have been able to look in the mirror had I missed that opportunity to witness for truth. I was representing the civil rights community and talking about Coretta's life. What was I going to talk about? Wine and roses?" he said.
"WHY DID I LIVE?"
