Yolanda “Yoki” King is honored in personal tribute by a fellow Baby Boomer

The recent and surprising death of Yolanda "Yoki" King comes as a shock to many of us who have lived our lives under the wide-ranging mantle called "Baby Boomer."

On April 16, 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. comprised the famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

In this piece of literary history, he first introduces the public to his precious oldest child, while attempting to provide her with logical answers for which he had a difficult time responding. In the Birmingham Letter, Dr. King so eloquently writes about the difficulty that arises

... when you suddenly find your tounge twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television and see the tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that "Funtown" is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people.

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007, the little girl who was the subject of Dr. King's "Funtown" remarks in the preceding letter, died at the age of 51.

Yolanda Denise King was born in November 1955, a month before Rosa Parks would refuse to sit on the back of the bus - sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which in essence, started the non-violent, Civil Rights Movement led by her father, Dr. King.

On many levels, Yolanda "Yoki" King's death is considered a significant event - considering she is the first-born child of one of the world's all-time peacemakers and the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize honoree.

For many of us Baby Boomers, when it comes to the King Children and the Kennedy Children, we have witnessed these famous offspring go about their public lives (usually) as inconspicuously as possible.

But, the death of Yoki King comes unexpectedly. Especially considering that her mother, Coretta Scott King, just recently died in January 2006.

One would surmise that the famous King Children would've lived on to a ripe old age. And this thought was mirrored in a message delivered at Yoki's May 24 funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, by her longtime friend, Juandalynn Abernathy -- daughter of the late Ralph David Abernathy.

But, then again, "John-John" Kennedy Jr. died unexpectedly and tragically in July 1999. And he was only 38.

Therefore, I take great pride in cherishing the life of Yolanda "Yoki" King and extend my condolences to her family and siblings, Martin L. King III, Dexter Scott King and the Rev. Bernice King.

Consider this a personal tribute to the life of Yolanda “Yoki” King. And, a well-deserved one.

Rest In Peace, "Yoki."

By Timothy Cox

The Augusta Chronicle

Staff Writer