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![](images/dexter%20king%20471-012224.jpg) |
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FILE -
This
1966
file
photo is
the last
official
portrait
taken of
the
entire
King
family,
made in
the
study of
Ebenezer
Baptist
Church
in
Atlanta.
From
left are
Dexter
King,
Yolanda
King,
Martin
Luther
King
Jr.,
Bernice
King,
Coretta
Scott
King and
Martin
Luther
King
III. The
King
Center
in
Atlanta
said the
62-year-old
son of
the
civil
rights
leader
died
Monday,
Jan. 22,
2024 at
his
California
home
after
battling
prostate
cancer.
(Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
via AP,
File) |
|
Martin
Luther
King's
son
Dexter
Scott
King
dies of
cancer
4–6
minutes
ATLANTA
(AP) —
Dexter
Scott
King,
who
dedicated
much of
his life
to
shepherding
the
civil
rights
legacy
of his
parents,
the Rev.
Martin
Luther
King Jr.
and
Coretta
Scott
King,
died
Monday
after
battling
prostate
cancer.
He was
62.
The King
Center
in
Atlanta,
which
Dexter
King
served
as
chairman,
said the
younger
son of
the
civil
rights
icon
died at
his home
in
Malibu,
California.
His
wife,
Leah
Weber
King,
said in
a
statement
that he
died
“peacefully
in his
sleep.”
The
third of
the
Kings’
four
children,
Dexter
King was
named
for the
Dexter
Avenue
Baptist
Church
in
Montgomery,
Alabama,
where
his
father
served
as a
pastor
when the
Montgomery
bus
boycott
launched
him to
national
prominence
in the
wake of
the 1955
arrest
of Rosa
Parks.
Dexter
King was
just 7
years
old when
his
father
was
assassinated
in April
1968
while
supporting
striking
sanitation
workers
in
Memphis,
Tennessee.
“He
turned
that
pain
into
activism,
however,
and
dedicated
his life
to
advancing
the
dream
Martin
and
Coretta
Scott
King had
for
their
children”
and
others,
the Rev.
Al
Sharpton
said in
a
statement.
He said
Dexter
King
“left us
far too
soon.”
Dexter
King
described
the
impact
his
father’s
killing
had on
his
childhood,
and the
rest of
his
life, in
a 2004
memoir,
“Growing
Up
King.”
“Ever
since I
was
seven,
I’ve
felt I
must be
formal,”
he
wrote,
adding:
“Formality,
seriousness,
certitude
— all
these
are
difficult
poses to
maintain,
even if
you’re a
person
with
perfect
equilibrium,
with all
the
drama
life
throws
at you.”
As an
adult,
Dexter
King
bore
such a
striking
resemblance
to his
famous
father
that he
was cast
to
portray
him in a
2002 TV
move
about
Parks
starring
Angela
Bassett.
He also
worked
to
protect
the King
family’s
intellectual
property.
In
addition
to
serving
as
chairman
of the
King
Center,
he was
also
president
of the
King
estate.
Dexter
King and
his
siblings,
who
shared
control
of the
family
estate,
didn’t
always
agree on
how to
uphold
their
parents’
legacy.
In one
particularly
bitter
disagreement,
the
siblings
ended up
in court
after
Dexter
King and
his
brother
in 2014
sought
to sell
the
Nobel
Peace
Prize
their
father
was
awarded
in 1964
along
with the
civil
rights
leader’s
traveling
Bible
used by
President
Barack
Obama
for his
second
inauguration.
Bernice
King
said she
found
the
notion
unthinkable.
The King
siblings
settled
the
dispute
in 2016
after
former
President
Jimmy
Carter
served
as a
mediator.
The
items
were
turned
over to
the
brothers,
but
other
terms of
the
settlement
were
kept
confidential.
Decades
earlier,
Dexter
King
made
headlines
when he
publicly
declared
that he
believed
James
Earl
Ray, who
pleaded
guilty
in 1969
to
murdering
his
father,
was
innocent.
They met
in 1997
at a
Nashville
prison
amid an
unsuccessful
push by
King
family
members
to have
Ray
stand
trial,
hoping
the case
would
reveal
evidence
of a
broader
conspiracy.
When Ray
said
during
their
prison
meeting
that he
wasn’t
the
killer,
Dexter
King
replied:
“I
believe
you and
my
family
believes
you.”
But Ray
never
got a
trial.
He died
from
liver
failure
the
following
year.
Dexter
King is
survived
by his
wife as
well as
his
older
brother,
Martin
Luther
King
III; his
younger
sister,
the Rev.
Bernice
A. King;
and a
teenage
niece,
Yolanda
Renee
King.
Coretta
Scott
King
died in
2006,
followed
by the
Kings’
oldest
child,
Yolanda
Denise
King, in
2007.
“Words
cannot
express
the
heart
break I
feel
from
losing
another
sibling,”
Bernice
King
said in
a
statement.
Martin
Luther
King III
said:
“The
sudden
shock is
devastating.
It is
hard to
have the
right
words at
a moment
like
this. We
ask for
your
prayers
at this
time for
the
entire
King
family.”
A
memorial
service
will be
announced
later,
the King
Center
said.
The
family
planned
a news
conference
Tuesday
in
Atlanta.
___
This
story
has been
corrected
to
remove a
reference
to
Dexter
Scott
King
being an
attorney.
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