Family feud, new book threaten King legacy

modbee ^ | 1-15-06

[LouAvul]

ATLANTA (AP) - On the eve of what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 77th birthday, his legacy is under attack and its greatest defender is unable to speak.

King's widow, Coretta Scott King, is recovering from a stroke that partially paralyzed her, and on Saturday made only her first public appearance since last year's King holiday observance, smiling from a wheelchair at the Salute to Greatness Dinner.

The couple's four children are divided over whether to sell the family-run center that promotes King's teachings.

And the spotlight is again hitting King's more human side in a new book that alleges extramarital affairs and a nasty split with a civil rights colleague, the Rev. Jesse Jackson - a story that threatened to overshadow King's humanitarian contributions on the 20th anniversary of the King National Holiday.

Despite all the distractions, those who stood by King's side as soldiers in the civil rights movement say the memory of the self-named "Drum Major for Justice" is untouchable.

"Dr. King's legacy is as sound as a rock," said Tyrone Brooks, a Georgia state representative from Atlanta who worked alongside King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the SCLC, which King co-founded in 1957.

Rumors of womanizing by King and feuds with Jackson and others have long been popular topics in media and books like "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down," the memoir written decades ago by King's former right-hand man, the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy.

Historian Taylor Branch's book "At Canaan's Edge," released last week, is the latest. In the book, the third in Branch's series detailing King's life and the civil rights movement, the author writes of a longstanding affair King allegedly revealed to Coretta Scott King the year before his 1968 assassination.

[atomicpossum]

King has just become a mask for other people to put on.

[DJ MacWoW]

Branch, who has not been available recently for interviews, also writes of heated arguments King had with some of his closest colleagues, including Jackson, whom he accused of trying to use the civil rights movement to promote himself.

Which is exactly what he's done. I wonder if anything's been written in this book on Jacksons involvement in Kings death.

[Polybius]

.........that alleges extramarital affairs and a nasty split with a civil rights colleague, the Rev. Jesse Jackson ......

In other breaking news, Bill Clinton cheated on Hillary, Ulysses S. Grant was not a teetotaler and Harry Truman cussed every once in a while.

[fat city]

The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change - site of his tomb ... In 1981, the center moved from her (Coretta Scott King's) basement to its current address...

You mean his body was in her basement all those years?

[Salvey]

Time to repeal the "holiday."

[Michael.SF.]

MLK would role over in his grave if he knew what the family was doing to his "legacy". Graft corruption, taxpayers money. And no one is going to touch them:

MiLKING the Legacy?

[ops33]

I don't mind the holiday, but I do wish he was born in June.

[Founding Father]

MaLuKing wouldn't give a sh*t what his family was doing as long as he continued to have his "wimins." Great role model for his kids, it's OK to cheat on ma.

Well he certainly has a large following on that score.

[CheyennePress]

King did a lot of good and was a great man.

With that said, he plagiarized his doctoral thesis and had the sexual habits of an alley cat.

Does that mean we should tear him down? I don't think so. Same goes for this ridiculous move to rename schools named after George Washington and Thomas Jefferson because they owned slaves.

[freedumb2003]

I don't mind the holiday, but I do wish he was born in June.

Given the "honesty" he displayed (hey, what's a little philandering in God's name), and the subsequent "honesty" of his minions such as Jessie Jackson, it is not out of the realm of possibility he WAS born in June and lied to cover it up.

[R.W.Ratikal]

Those who know the truth about MLK know that whatever King was he is now the Black Jesus and is untouchable.

The King family has understandably exploited white guilt to the upmost.

[Jane Austen]

Many years ago a book came out written by a black woman who made described King's degrading treatment of black women. I no longer recall the title or author's name.

[DarkSavant]

1. He had socialistic tendencies.
2. He was a womanizer.
3. He doctored his thesis and many speeches.


On the other hand...
1. He refused to be part of the victim mentality.
2. He was charismatic, and never was intentionally divisive.
3. He understood that peceful civil protest was better than the violent sects of the movement.

He still deserves a holiday, and he was still a better man than I or most people in this forum are.

[drhogan]

i think they should keep the holiday, and repeal his doctorate.
if it were someone else, the doctorate would have already been repealed.
maybe they could at least put an * after "Dr."

[Hank Rearden]

Time to repeal the "holiday."

Yeah, good luck with that. Another government-parasite paid day off - repealed? Sure, that'll happen.

Stand by for Rosa Parks Day federal holiday, to be instituted somewhere near union-election time.

[Bonaparte]

"He had socialistic tendencies."

That's putting it mildly. RFK pleaded with him to distance himself from his known communist party associates. He said he would and then did nothing. JE Hoover knew all about it.

[wardaddy]

in your dreams but i concur