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American Morning

Martin Luther King III Fighting Criticism He's Not Able to Lead SCLC

Aired August 06, 2001 - 10:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A controversy in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is unfolding at its national convention in Alabama. Martin Luther King III is fighting criticism that he's not able to lead the organization, which was cofounded by his famous father.

Our Brian Cabell now reports from Montgomery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:: Hey, thank you for the call.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's a man who's had to walk in his father's shadow, and the comparison has never been a favorable one for Martin Luther King III. His presence isn't commanding. His oratory isn't powerful.

For three years, he's led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, just as his father once did.

But a few weeks back, the group's board's chairman blasted him for being an ineffective leader and fund-raiser. The chairman, Claude Young, has since backed off a bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:: There was never any intention to oust him.

CABELL (on camera): You want him to stay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:: Yes, absolutely.

CABELL: But you don't think he's been an effective leader?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:: I don't think that he's done everything that the board wants to do.

CABELL (voice-over): The criticism was even more scathing in a recent column written by Cynthia Tucker from "The Atlanta Journal Constitution." "The man may be a King," she wrote, "but he is no leader. He is a son, but he is hardly a spiritual heir. He lacks courage, vision, charisma and intellectual wattage. He is a prosaic public speaker and a lackluster fund-raiser. MARTIN LUTHER KING III, SCLC PRESIDENT: Some people are going to be supportive, and embrace and uplift. Others are going to be not supportive. I have no problem with constructive criticism. I'm concerned about destructive criticism.

CABELL: There have been talk of trying to remove King from the presidency, but that's highly unlikely at that convention. Support for him seems broad and visible. His mother is here to back him. So are Jesse Jackson, Andy Young, and Joe Lowrie. Some SCLC members, in fact, say the board, not King, is the problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:: We need to replace many of those board members who have paid their dues, served their time, but are now no longer useful to SCLC.

CABELL: The SCLC has had trouble gaining attention in recent years. It's issue of AIDS education, racial profiling and a technology divide between blacks and whites have not been as dramatic as the outright racial segregation they fought in the 1960s, which make the job of Martin Luther King III all that more imposing.

KING III: While God has not bestowed upon me the mighty torch of prophetic righteousness carried by my father, he seemed thick to at least give me the thicker of the flame. And this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

CABELL: He must bolster his own image, and at same time, show the world that his father's civil rights organization still has relavence in the 21st century.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Montgomery, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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