The King Center

| 2 Comments
Denny at Grouchy Old Cripple has some harsh words for those people who have inherited the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. bq. What else is going on in Atlanta. What have we here? Cynthia Tucker is going after the King family again. That takes courage in Atlanta. bq. It seems the King Center has fallen on hard times.
In the years after her husband's assassination, Coretta Scott King tapped into a deep wellspring of guilt, regret and longing to raise funds for a memorial: the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. In 1981, she completed a landmark $8 million building, with her husband's tomb as its centerpiece. The King Center was to be a dynamic institution that would keep the dream alive.
But the center never came close to its potential. Now, it is close to collapse. Nearly 40 years after King's death, the facility is crumbling; educational and advocacy programming is nonexistent; staff layoffs have claimed even the janitor.
bq. How could this be?
The King Center has been ruined by the King family.
bq. WTF? How did this happen?
King's heirs have always been at least as interested in self-aggrandizement and material comfort as they have been in advocating civil rights and social justice. Even as fund-raising has lagged, King's adult sons � Martin III and Dexter � continue to pay themselves six-figure salaries as executives of the institution. They have even mortgaged a nearby landmark, their father's birth home.
bq. Six figure salaries? It seems that the reflecting pool is leaking. The electrical wiring has become a fire hazard. The restrooms have backed up sewers. The place is a mess, but Dexter King makes around $180,000 and Martin III makes about $150,000. Not bad bucks to do nothing. bq. Cynthia continues.
Now that the center is barely able to meet payroll, its staff cut by nearly three-quarters and repairs desperately needed on the leaking roof and the crumbling reflecting pool, King Center advocates want more government funds to help with the estimated $11 million needed for maintenance. According to former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, who was once a close confidant of King's and continues to be a staunch defender of his heirs, "A lot of money needs to go into maintenance, and that can't be the responsibility of the family."
bq. Yep! Gotta keep paying Dexter and Marty III the big bucks.
Nonsense. Congress should not set aside another dime for the King Center until the family agrees to deed the facility � lock, stock and barrel � over to the National Park Service. That's the only way to ensure that taxpayer funds won't be used to subsidize Dexter's apartment out in Malibu. (While Dexter, who fancies himself an actor, still collects a salary and benefits package of $188,000 a year as board chairman and COO, he spends much of his time in Southern California.)
bq. An actor? I guess so. He's acting like he's running the King Center. Unfortunately, he and his brother are running it into the ground but he did have a vision at one time.
When Dexter took over the center in 1995, he stripped away the last vestiges of civil rights crusading to concentrate on profitmongering. He visited the managers of the Elvis Presley estate to try to figure out how he could market his late father as they had marketed the dead singer. The family even fought the National Park Service's proposal to build a visitors' center near the King Center: the family wanted the site to build a for-profit museum � a sort of "I Have a Dreamland." (Fortunately, the visitors' center was built.)
bq. I have a Dreamland. I love it. I don't often agree with Cynthia Tucker but she is right on here. She went after the King family a while back when they tried to get $20 million for some of King's papers.
The family will not easily or quickly concede that it ought to turn the King Center over to the National Park Service, which has the managerial expertise to maintain the property. The Kings are notoriously difficult to negotiate with. A few years ago, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) was close to persuading a reluctant Congress to offer the family $20 million for a large stash of King's papers, which would have gone to the Library of Congress. But the family insisted on retaining the copyrights, so Congress backed away.
bq. And she finishes with a final flourish.
Nevertheless, prominent activists ought to open talks with the family on the future of the King Center. If they don't surrender it, the facility will soon be an eyesore � and a huge advertisement for the way in which the King heirs have debased the dream.
bq. But they have made a lot of money off of King's legacy. Ya gotta love the King family. He had a dream. They have a scheme (to make money) and it's working. Content of Their Character indeed! I quoted the entire post because excerpting it didn't work - this needed to be read in its entirety. Goes right along with what people like Bill Cosby are saying. (here, here and here)

2 Comments

Has The Dream ... Become A Nightmare?
>
>
>I was chillin' at the crib and there was a knock at
the door. I
opened
>the door and to my amazement there stood Dr Martin
Luther King Jr.
He
>was dressed exactly the way they dressed in the 60's.
You know with
the

>suits and the thin neckties, only he was in black and
white like an
old

>movie and the rest of the world was still in color.
>
>
>He explained to me that he had been gone for quite
some time now
(over
>35
>years) and was lost. He said that the world had
changed so much and
>hoped that I could help him get reacquainted with our
society so he
>could find his way back to his family. I invited him
in and told him
to

>make himself comfortable.
>
>
>When Martin sat in front of my entertainment system,
he asked me
about
>all the contraptions connected to my television set.
I explained
that
>one was my VCR and one was my DVD player. Martin
asked," What's a
VCR?"
>"What's a DVD?" I explained both technologies to him
and he was
>astonished. Then he asked about the third box. I told
him that was
my
>cable box. Based upon the confused look on his face,
it was apparent
>that this too needed explaining.
>
>
>I turned on the television and after a brief
description and
>instruction on the use of the remote control he was
off clicking
from
>channel to channel. After a few minutes, Martin was
working the
remote
>like a pro!
>Being a man made it real easy for him to fall in love
with the
remote
>control. He was very impressed by the fact that there
were so many
>channels geared towards specific interests, sports
especially (ESPN).
>
>
>He continued further and eventually stopped at one of
the music
>channels that were airing their hip-hop program. Dr.
King
asked, "What
>is this?"
>I explained that it was a music video and that's the
way today's
music
>is presented to the public. As one thuggishly blinged
out video
after
>another was aired, I noticed a cease in questions.
>
>
>Martin was silent and his facial expressions changed
from amazement
to
>distress and disappointment. He asked. "Is this what
our music has
come

>to? Is this supposed to be progress?" "Why do our
women condone this
>obscene portrayal of their manhood? Have they
forgotten the abuse,
>emotional and physical rape that their female
ancestors had been
>subjected to?
>
>
>And why do our young men act this way? Obsessed with
materialism and
>being disrespectful to our women?" I told him its
called, "thuggin".
He

>asked me to explain what thuggin was. I said, "It
means to be hard
and
>unfeeling? uh you know? a gangsta ? ride or die? cash
rules
everything.
>Having no respect for anything or anyone. Any
negative quality about
a
>man.
>
>
>After several strange looks from Martin, I then
realized that there
was

>no way to explain or justify "thuggin" to an
intelligent person like
>him. So I changed the subject. Abruptly Martin asked,
"Could anyone
>else see these videos?" Anyone who pays for cable, I
replied. "You
mean

>to tell me that you actually pay money willingly to
witness this?"
>Martin asked. I could only answer yes, but I felt
ashamed to admit
this

>to such a righteous man.
>
>
>Martin asked, "Is this behavior accepted by everyone?
Where have all
>the ministers, pastors and leaders gone?" I told him,
there haven't
>been any who are willing to step out there and put it
on the line
since

>you left here. Martin said very sadly, "I never
worried about
leaving
>here because I was so sure that there would be more
who would come
>after me to step up and carry on the fight for
equality and respect.
>
>
>Martin becoming more and more disgusted watching the
videos being
aired

>stood up and said, "This is how we overcame? He
grabbed my cable
box,
>ripping it from the back of the T.V., and smashed it
on the floor.
>Being
>who he was and knowing deep down he was right. I
couldn't get mad.
As
>we stood there looking at the wreckage that was once
my cable box
with
>an awkward silence, Martin then apologized and asked
could we please
>leave because he just wanted to see his family. "Is
there any place
>that I can go to get some gifts for my family?"
Martin asked.
>
>
>I knew just the place. We got in my car and headed to
the mall. Dr.
>King was fascinated by the size of the mall and
selection of
different
>stores. It must have been a weekend because as we
started to walk
>around, I noticed that the mall was filled
predominately with
>teenagers.
>Many of them were loud and using profanity. Martin
asked a young
>brother in front of a group of his friends why is it
necessary to be
so

>profane and conduct himself in way that was not only
disrespectful
to
>himself but to his people.
>
>
>The young brother said, "F---- you man! Ni**a, you
ain't my daddy! I
>had to restrain Martin from disciplining the young
brother. I asked
the

>teenager, "Do you know who this is? He replied, "Hell
naw, he ain't
>iced out so why should I care!"
>
>
>At this point I was ready to snatch my man up, but
Martin urged me
to
>let it go. After Dr. King was able to calm down, he
realized that
the
>young people were only imitating what they saw on the
music videos
that

>he had seen earlier. "They have been infected with
the ignorance of
the

>images they covet. So this is our future?"
>
>
>I suggested that we just get the gifts and go. As I
started to walk
>further, I noticed Martin walking back towards the
door that we came
>in. I ran after him, shouting," Whoa, where are you
going?" With a
>distressed look Martin said, "I'd rather go back."
Why?" I asked. He
>said, "You don't' understand, I never got to see my
kids grow up. I
>missed the holidays, graduations and birthdays, all
in the name of
>sacrifice. I felt it was necessary to bring about
equal opportunity
and

>a brighter future for this generation. All I see is
that a few of us
>got rich and the rest became slaves again."
>
>
>I said, "What are you talking about, this isn't
slavery!" Martin
looked

>at me and replied, "Oh it isn't?" He turned and
walked towards the
>doors and exited the mall. I tried to keep him from
leaving but out
of
>nowhere this security guard gets in my way and tells
me that I can't
go

>with him. I wrestled myself away and bolted out of
the exit but once
I
>got outside he had vanished.
>
>
>As I stood outside panning the parking lot to see if
I could find
him,
>an Escalade on"24's" bumpin' some ignorant thug
anthem was coming
right

>at me All I could do was brace myself for the impact.
Right before
the
>SUV hit me, I awoke out of my dream. As I laid in a
puddle of sweat,
I
>tried repeatedly to shake the dream but I couldn't. I
remembered
those
>who sacrificed their lives for us and I wondered what
it would be
like
>if we had to stand before them and justify what we
have become as a
>race. I also wondered what made me have such a dream.
After hours of
>thinking, I concluded it was probably guilt. The
guilt of knowing
that
>we have fallen way short of Martin Luther King's
dream. In fact it's
>closer to a nightmare!
>
>
>This anonymous article was passed to me by a friend.
>
>
>Has The Dream ... Become A Nightmare?


The idea that the King Family has "made money" off of his legacy is taking things a bit far in my opinion. They deserve, if anybody, to make appropriate measures to protect their family's legacy..and if it comes with a price so be it because it had a price whether we want to admit it or not and unfortunatly Dr. King didn't live to be on corporate boards and etc to get paid as many of his counterparts have..but as far as the Center, if it is not being taken care of the King Center needs to get it together for the sake of his legacy and the civil rights movement because it reflects a great piece of African American history but how will we do this is the question because the issues are clear ..how do we reach a solution and get through to the King family..

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on February 10, 2005 12:02 PM.

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