A bid to hang Coretta Scott King's portrait in the state Capitol died in a legislative committee Wednesday, with the chief supporter comparing the failure to Don Imus' slur against the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

The resolution would have urged the Capitol Standards Arts Commission to hang the portrait next to a picture of her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but the three-member House Special Rules Committee declined to move the proposal forward Wednesday.

"It's just like calling Mrs. King a nappy-headed (N-word)," state Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam, told reporters after the hearing.

"It's another example of blatant disrespect for black women in 2007," said Abdul-Salaam, a Democrat. "It's worse than what Don Imus did."

Rep. Al Williams, who heads the House's black caucus, said he thinks the commission's decision and Imus' slur "are completely different."

"I don't see the committee's action as racist. I see it as inaction and shortsighted," he said. "I use the word racist like I do love — I'm sure when I use it."

A proposal to hang a portrait of Coretta Scott King in the state Capitol suffered another setback Friday when its sponsor failed to show up on time for a committee meeting on the resolution.

Abdul-Salaam failed to show up at another Special Rules Committee hearing on her resolution on March 19, citing an illness.