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MLK CONFESSED TO WIFE (book: told hospitalized Coretta about extramarital affair)
NY POST ^ | January 2, 2006 | LEONARD GREENE

Posted on 01/02/2006 3:28:43 AM PST by Liz

Depressed over the civil-rights movement's direction and burdened by premonitions of his own murder, King told his wife of a mistress in 1968 as Coretta Scott King recovered from surgery for a tumor.

"He disclosed to her the one mistress who meant most to him since 1963," writes author Taylor Branch, "a married alumna of Fisk [University], of dignified bearing like Coretta, but different." In his new book, "At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968,"

Branch said the affair had the intensity of a second marriage. Confidante Ralph David Abernathy's wife, Juanita, was furious that "King had picked Coretta's most vulnerable moment" to "ambush her sanctuary of willful, silent discretion."

The supposed confession is one of several details from King's life excerpted in this week's Time magazine.

In one exchange with subordinates, King browbeats staffers of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference who disagreed with his decision to back a Memphis sanitation strike — a campaign that would ultimately get him killed.

He saved his most scathing remarks for Jesse Jackson, the man who most prominently took up his mantle. "If you want to carve out your own niche in society, go ahead," King screamed at the young upstart. "But for God's sake, don't bother me."

leonard.greene@nypost.com

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: adultery; atcanaansedge; bookreview; mlk; taylorbranch
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He saved his most scathing remarks for Jesse Jackson, the man who most prominently took up his mantle. "If you want to carve out your own niche in society, go ahead," King screamed at the young upstart. "But for God's sake, don't bother me."

That's telling 'im, Rev King.

1 posted on 01/02/2006 3:28:44 AM PST by Liz
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To: Liz
Rev. King's affairs and his plagarism on his academic work is part of the underground history of America. A lot people know about it but almost no one talks about it. Time would never have printed a piece like this ten years ago. In fact, the guy who first came up with evidence of King's plagarism almost didn't get it published becaused he was turned down by everyone he offered it to. The book sold huge numbers of copies, so don't ever think that profit is only motive of the media. MLK was right about a lot of things, but he was protected and allowed to behave the way he did.
2 posted on 01/02/2006 3:36:37 AM PST by Zack Nguyen
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To: Liz

Jessee has been shucking and jiving all his life.


3 posted on 01/02/2006 3:38:17 AM PST by billhilly
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A story from the "who gives a crap" wire...


4 posted on 01/02/2006 3:39:37 AM PST by Keith in Iowa (Don't have an annus horribilis in 2006.)
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To: Zack Nguyen

"...but he was protected and allowed to behave the way he did."

Kinda like JFK?


5 posted on 01/02/2006 3:40:56 AM PST by mlc9852
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To: Keith in Iowa

These kinds of stories are interesting. They remind us that history is made up of "just a bunch of guys" who are flawed, just like everyone else. Unfortunately, some people take this too far and only see the flaws.


6 posted on 01/02/2006 3:43:52 AM PST by durasell (!)
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To: Liz
MLK "If you want to carve out your own niche in society, go ahead," King screamed at the young upstart. "But for God's sake, don't bother me."

JESSIE: "Uh Mah-tin...Coot ya step out on da balconey wit me?"

7 posted on 01/02/2006 3:43:57 AM PST by DainBramage
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To: mlc9852; Liz

http://www.garynorth.com/public/335.cfm

This is an article on the first guy who tried to publish information on King's plagarism.

This sort of information is, I will admit, difficult for me to discuss. The fact is that King was right on a whole lot of things. His name has become linked to the cause for racial dignity, so to attack him is seen as attacking the very idea of racial equality, or to favor white supremacy. Nevertheless, it is important to speak honestly about people, even if their cause was sacred.


8 posted on 01/02/2006 3:45:40 AM PST by Zack Nguyen
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To: durasell

I bet you're thrilled by the news that Mr. & Mrs. Pitt have reportedly embarked on a collaborative effort that will premier in about 9 months...


9 posted on 01/02/2006 3:47:21 AM PST by Keith in Iowa (Don't have an annus horribilis in 2006.)
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To: Keith in Iowa

I don't know who that is?


10 posted on 01/02/2006 3:48:04 AM PST by durasell (!)
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To: durasell

>>>I don't know who that is?<<<

Mr & Mrs Pitt? Brad & Angelina?? OK, so you don't pay as much attention as I thought to stuff in the news that nobody gives a crap about...


11 posted on 01/02/2006 3:50:51 AM PST by Keith in Iowa (Don't have an annus horribilis in 2006.)
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To: Keith in Iowa

My careful reading of NY Post Page 6 has informed me that he's married to the chick from the television show Friends...


12 posted on 01/02/2006 3:52:08 AM PST by durasell (!)
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To: Keith in Iowa

p.s.

Good actor. Excellent in Legends of the Fall.


13 posted on 01/02/2006 3:52:47 AM PST by durasell (!)
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To: mlc9852

Kinda like William the Zipper??


14 posted on 01/02/2006 3:55:02 AM PST by Coldwater Creek ("Over there, over there, We won't be back 'til it's over Over there.")
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To: billhilly
Jessee has been shucking and jiving all his life.

It sure seems that way.

Then and now, Arafat struck me most in appearance and performance as an Arabian Jesse Jackson. Those of us who personally know the hypocritical Jackson would be obliged to report that he has created for himself a legend out of pure public relations. He was catapulted into the spotlight by calling a press conference at Chicago's O'Hare Airport after Martin Luther King's assassination. Jackson was wearing a bloodied shirt which he said was the splattered blood of the civil rights hero. Jackson said he was holding King's head as his life slipped away.

The only problem with his story is that Jackson was nowhere around, according to people who were there, when Martin Luther King was shot. The man who cradled his head was the Reverend Ralph Abernathy not Jackson. People at the sight had no idea how he could have gotten a blood-splattered shirt, but this was before DNA samples could have been taken to dispute him. His own colleagues suggested it was probably chicken blood. Thus, he built his reputation out of a compound of lies and myths until it grew into a perception of the man who tried to live up to the image he had created for himself.

The Day Yasser Arafat Stole My Gas
By Jack Anderson


15 posted on 01/02/2006 3:56:11 AM PST by DumpsterDiver
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To: Zack Nguyen

Please be reassured, I would never have posted this if I thought it had anything to do with ugly white supremacy.

The point is, many Black conservative intellectuals and social analysts, who post here, would be equally dismayed by MLK's extramarital affairs, and his timing for telling Coretta about it.


16 posted on 01/02/2006 3:56:44 AM PST by Liz (You may not be interested in politics; doesn't mean politics isn't interested in you. Pericles)
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To: Liz

Have you ever met any guy who was perfect?


17 posted on 01/02/2006 3:57:53 AM PST by durasell (!)
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To: durasell

So the good always out weighs the bad, and as long as you do enough bad then you can just be whatever else you want to be??????


18 posted on 01/02/2006 3:58:07 AM PST by Coldwater Creek ("Over there, over there, We won't be back 'til it's over Over there.")
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To: Liz

No question of your motives here at all. I agree with a candid discussion of this. Honesty about our history requires it. Check out my link if you like. Believe me, Gary North pulls no punches there at all.


19 posted on 01/02/2006 3:59:05 AM PST by Zack Nguyen
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To: mariabush

People are extremely complex. I don't think anyone runs their life like a checking account where they can feel free to be bad once they have sufficient good points racked up.

People have moments of weakness, they have compulsions, they have moments of bad judgement, etc. etc. etc.

It is interesting to know that even great men are imperfect -- kinda like knowing they put their pants on one leg at a time.


20 posted on 01/02/2006 4:02:51 AM PST by durasell (!)
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