The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) has hardly been enhanced by the squabbling among his four children – pitting two of them who regard it as their inheritance to use for their personal benefit against the other two who regard it as a public trust for them to manage as zealous trustees.
[Children of Martin Luther King fighting over his estate, TIJ, July 14, 2008]
For over a year I’ve been chronicling the unseemly infighting among the children of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King Jr over everything from royalties from book deals to proceeds from the sale of Dr King’s papers.
From the outset I lamented their failure to settle their differences – if only to preserve the integrity of their family’s good and historic name.
Instead, they continually went on talk shows, like Larry King Live, to air their dirty laundry, acting like the white trash who grasp at their 15 minutes of fame by making a spectacle of their private lives on reality TV.
Here’s how I framed the alleged cause of this family feud in a previous commentary:
Martin Luther King III and Bernice filed a lawsuit … in which they allege that Dexter – in his capacity as president of the Martin Luther King Jr corporation – has misappropriated a third of their parent’s estate “for his own benefit.” (Yolanda, Dexter’s alleged cohort in exploiting their father’s legacy for all it’s worth, died suddenly last year at 51.)
In addition, they allege that management of the corporation is in “complete disarray” and that Dexter has refused to provide them with “information and documentation concerning the operation, actions and financial affairs of the corporation to which they were entitled.”
Never mind that, just like any family dispute over money that ends up in court, this lawsuit will do more to air (yet more of) their dirty laundry than to resolve their financial differences.
[MLK’s children take fight over his estate to court, TIJ, July 14, 2008]
Therefore, it seems a pitiful and regrettable delusion that yesterday, the first day of their latest court battle, the kids finally decided to settle all of their outstanding differences out of court, claiming that they want to avoid harming the legacy of their parents and begin their healing process as siblings:
It was a tiring day, but I would say a very triumphant day. This allows us to begin the healing process. I’m looking forward to the future. The most important thing is that we can advance the legacy of our parents.
(Dexter King)
Love compels you to take a higher road. We love our brother and the legacy of our parents. At the end of the day, we’re still a family.
(Bernice King)
Of course, one wonders why love did not prevent them from doing so much over the past year to destroy that legacy.
In any case, it does not bode well that there’s still so little trust and respect among them that the only way they could settle their differences was to agree that none of them should be involved in managing their parents’ estate, which includes love letters between and broadcast rights to MLK’s “I have a dream” speech. The court will appoint a custodian instead.
What an embarrassing farce!
Related commentaries:
Children of MLK continue fight over his legacy…
National farewell to Coretta Scott King
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