Future of Atlanta's King Center in limbo

[KamaAina]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-31-king-center_x.htm?csp=N009

ATLANTA — They came throughout the day Tuesday, hundreds of admirers of Coretta Scott King. They came to the King Center for Non-violent Social Change, to stand before the reflecting pool there as if drawn to it. Some brought flowers or pictures. Others tugged at small children, who seemed to sense the gravity of the moment....

The King Center, along with the federal holiday honoring her husband, is the greatest embodiment of Coretta King's legacy. She started it in her basement shortly after her husband's death and guided it for decades. It includes King's crypt, a library and archives, a museum, gift shop and resource center. Recently, it has been entangled in financial problems and management controversy and is at the center of a feud among the Kings' four adult children.

In December, the center's board of directors discussed selling it to the National Park Service, which already manages the nearby Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, encompassing the church where King once preached and a museum. Two children, Dexter and Yolanda King, support the sale, arguing the park service can best manage the facility. Their siblings, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, say the center can best preserve their father's legacy by remaining under family control. They have threatened legal action against Dexter, the board chairman.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said Coretta King "was the only one who had the ability or potential" to get financial and political support for the center. "I think people will realize it's in the best interest of the center and the legacy of Dr. King" for the Park Service to take control, he said.

The National Park Service? Our National Park Service?! The National Park Service that sells fundie/creationist books in its gift shops at places like the Grand Canyon? That National Park Service? And John Lewis of all people wants to turn the King Center over to them?! It boggles the mind. :eyes:

I remember back in the day when people from the King Center would join us in protesting the original Bush* Oil War (we had road-tripped up to Atlanta from N.O. 'cause we heard OxyRush was in town and we wanted to give him the warmest possible welcome :sarcasm: ). What are the odds that park rangers are ever going to join in a demo against Bush**co's invasion of Iran, or Syria, or North Korea, or the Grand Duchy of Fenwick, or all four at once?

We need to get some kind of move on to save Dr. King's (and Coretta's) legacy. One avenue might be to broaden the center's (perceived) mission: Martin Luther King III gave the keynote at a disabilities conference I attended in Washington last September (alas, he does not seem to have inherited the speechmaking gene).

[RubyDuby in GA]

1. A lot of people here in Atlanta are very much in favor of it going to the

NPS. The Center does not have the money to pay for upkeep. I'd much rather see it go to the National Park Service so that it can be properly maintained.

This is still up in the air though because of the infighting of the King Children. Half want to give it to the park service and half want to sell it. They are not looked upon favorably here in Atl.

And Dexter is the one to watch. I agree about MLK III.

[KamaAina]

2. The National Park Service has become Bushbot Central

kind of like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Leave it to the Bushies to find a way to politicize parks. :eyes:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/18/MNGK74CHTL1.DTL

The National Park Service recently ordered the return of plaques bearing biblical verse that had hung in Grand Canyon National Park for more than 30 years before they were taken down last summer. The Park Service also approved selling a book at the Grand Canyon that suggests the canyon was created in six days several thousand years ago.

And at the Lincoln Memorial, an eight-minute film that shows historical events at the memorial, including demonstrations for civil rights, abortion rights and gay rights, is being revised by the Park Service to add four minutes of more politically neutral events.

While the Park Service says these are unrelated incidents, reflecting no overarching political policy, a national alliance of public environmental workers says the efforts are evidence of a new program of "faith-based parks" promoted by the Bush administration with the strong support of conservative groups....

"What this shows," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the alliance, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, "is that Christian fundamentalists and morally conservative groups have a special entree with the decision-makers at the Park Service and the White House."

Now imagine the King Center under this kind of a regime. They'd turn it into a support group for all those poor persecuted fundies whose civil rights are constantly being violated. :sarcasm: The supreme irony is that Dr. King's movement was itself, obviously, "faith-based"!

No, I don't have the answer as to how else to pay for the upkeep. A tax on bigotry, perhaps? Hell, that could retire the whole federal deficit!

[RubyDuby in GA]

3. I would definitely support a tax on bigotry!

But the simple truth is the King family can't take care of it. This way it would at least be maintained. And as I said - in this town, the King children are not looked upon favorably. Most people think it's their greed that has brought then to this.

[KamaAina]

5. Greed and the Alliance for Full Particpation

the disabilities conference I mentioned. Apparently Martin L. King III received about the price of a new SUV for his speech, which one of my colleagues, who is blind, said sounded like he was reading from a script.

And as I said - in this town, the King children are not looked upon favorably.

That pretty much leaves Andrew Young, described in the McPaper article as "the only non-family member on the board".

Sad. Another disabilities conference, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, is to be held in Atlanta in June. The brochures proclaim "Atlanta -- Stronghold of the Civil Rights Movement". Let's keep it that way.

[CottonBear]

4. Perhaps the GA Dept. of Natural Resources Parks, Rec. & Historic Sites

Division could purchase the site instead of the feds. I favor the Federal Park Service as the owner/operator. The King children simply can't run or fund the center properly which is a damn shame. The physical condition of the center is poor.

[RubyDuby in GA]

6. Their budget has been slashed to the bone

And the city of Atlanta can't buy it. They can't buy new sewers......

[CottonBear]

7. I used to do a lot of work for the DNR PArks Division.

Perdue cut the budget so much that they couldn't open a new golf course that they had finally finished building. They could maintain it but not open it to the public. After many months, the state relented and funded the course and opened it to the public. What a SNAFU.