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Feud over King's legacy

ATLANTA: 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 she suffered last summer that also left her partially paralysed. Meanwhile, the Kings' four children are divided, battling over who will control their father's message of non-violence and whether to sell the family-run centre that promotes King's teachings.

At least two of them, Bernice and Martin III, admit they have neglected their father's legacy and should have done more to prevent the King Center for Non-violent Social Change — the site of their father's tomb — from falling more than $11 million (euro9 million) into disrepair. They say they have failed to focus on promoting the Atlanta centre, which their mother started almost 40 years ago.

Since King's assassination in 1968, many people have learned of his legacy through the King Center, founded by Coretta Scott King soon after her husband's death.

In 1981, the centre moved from her basement to its current address on Auburn Avenue, next to the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached from 1960 to 1968.

Operated by the King family, the centre could be sold to the National Park Service in a possible deal broached last month by the centre's board of directors. Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, along with the Kings' two other children, Dexter and Yolanda, and King's sister, Christine King Farris — all lifetime board members — are in favour of it. However, Bernice and Martin Luther King III have objected to any sale and are threatening legal action against their brother, Dexter King, who is chairman of the board. — AP

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