FAMILY, FRIENDS SAY GOODBYE TO JOURNALIST, ACTIVIST GEORGE CURRY

Family and friends gathered at Weeping Mary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa Saturday to say goodbye and celebrate the life of George Curry.

Curry a journalist and civil rights activist, who also wrote a syndicated column published in black-owned newspapers across the country. Friends and family said the Tuscaloosa native never shied away from the truth.

“He understood the right for human rights, for equal justice, for writing wrong was bigger than being a journalist and so he utilized his his ability, his platform, his podium as a journalist to right the wrongs that America saw,” said Ed Gordon.

Curry graduated from Druid High School in 1965, and his family said he always called Tuscaloosa home.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered Curry’s eulogy, said he was a pioneering journalist who fought for black media.

“He fought for us to be heard,” Sharpton said. “He was someone who personally helped to guide the civil rights movement in the last 40 years.”

Curry never let his friendship interfere with his work, Sharpton said.

“He was the kind of person who held friends and family accountable,” he said. “He would write negative about me and we’d talk the next day. He believed that journalism should be ethical and accountable.”

Before he died, Curry’s main focus was his website Emerge News Online. Sharpton said he wants to make sure Curry’s vision lives on.

“I’m gonna help his companion keep his news online,” he said. “I’m gonna put money in it and I’m gonna also contribute to it. His kind of journalism should never die.”

Curry died of a heart attack at the age of 69.