Aretha Franklin’s Family Disgusted with Eulogy

Reverend Williams furthered his negative agenda as per the Franklins

The family of Aretha Franklin has condemned the comments uttered by Reverend Jasper Williams Jr. during the eulogy segment of her funeral.[/tweetit] Rev. Williams is a senior pastor at Salem Baptist Church. Franklin died of pancreatic cancer at 76 years of age. The eulogy service, held at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit on August 31, was attended by family, musicians, political and religious leaders, and friends. The full event was live-streamed, and major media houses also broadcast the important portions.

Aretha Franklin’s Family Disgusted with Eulogy[/tweetthis]

Vaughn Franklin, the nephew of the late Aretha Franklin, alleged that Rev. Williams Jr., while he spoke for approximately 50 minutes, never properly eulogized her during that time. Vaughn, when he made this comment to the media, claimed to speak for the family. He said Aretha never requested Williams to do the eulogizing, as she was not keen to discuss plans about her own funeral. This pastor was selected by the Franklins as he had previously spoken at other memorials in the family, including at the funeral of C.L. Franklin, the father of Aretha Franklin and a civil rights activist.

Williams, during his eulogy, touched upon and then expanded on the condition of African-Americans in the United States. He said black Americans have lost their soul and Franklin had asked her race to reinvent themselves. The Reverend singled out black-on-black killings and other crimes. He claimed that unlike what many think, black lives are immaterial in the scheme of things. It will not matter in any way until blacks themselves begin to respect other black lives. They must stop killing each other.

The Reverend Williams also made a mini-speech on solo parenting where he said that it is impossible for a black woman to raise a black male child on her own. Such families need a man who could parent and mentor the children. Only if these are done, then it will be possible to turn around the dismal black American scenario of today. Incidentally, Franklin herself had four sons. She raised all of them herself. The first was born when she was only 12 years old. According to Vaughn Franklin, the eulogy caught the whole family off-guard. They found the speech extremely distasteful. Vaughn said the speech was unfortunate as all other ceremony participants were extremely respectful.

Resources

• Religion News Service
• CNN

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