I have felt constrained to write far too many commentaries on the family feud the children of Martin Luther King Jr. have been waging for years in the media and courts over his legacy.
By way of background, here are excerpts from three of them:
- From “Children of Martin Luther King Jr. Fighting Over His Estate,” July 14, 2008:
King’s legacy has not been enhanced by the squabbling among his four children: pitting two 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.
- From “MLK’s Kids Continue Family Feud Over His Legacy,” October 15, 2008:
Last July, when I wrote about the latest spectacle the children of Martin Luther King Jr. were making of his legacy, I really didn’t think they could do any more harm. But that all changed yesterday when they showed up in court to air more of their family’s dirty laundry…
Bernice has vowed not only to screw Dexter but also to defy any court order to turn over the documents. And her other brother, Martin, is supporting her as if MLK’s legacy depended on it.
MLK and Coretta must be rolling over in their graves.
- From “Now MLK’s Kids Settle?!” October 14, 2009:
For over a year I’ve been chronicling their family feud over everything from royalties from book deals to proceeds from the sale of MLK’s papers.
From the outset I despaired over their failure to settle their differences – if only to preserve the integrity of their family’s good and historic name…
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…
‘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 and broadcast rights to MLK’s ‘I have a dream’ speech…
What an embarrassing farce!
Sadly, I was right to greet Bernice King’s declaration – that love for her brothers and regard for her parents’ legacy caused the remaining three of them to finally settle their differences – with informed cynicism. Because here is the declaration of rekindled war she sounded just weeks ago to prevent her brothers, Martin III (center) and Dexter, from selling off MLK’s Nobel Peace Prize (the medal) and traveling Holy Bible:
‘While I love my brothers dearly, this latest decision by them is extremely troubling. Not only am I appalled and utterly ashamed, I am frankly disappointed that they would even entertain the thought of selling these precious items…
Our Father must be turning in his grave.
(My Fox Atlanta, February 11, 2014)
Enough said?
Related commentaries:
MLK family feud..
Continue family feud…
Kids settle…
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