Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights
A judge has ruled that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) faction led by the Rev. Sylvia Tucker is the winner in the legal fight over who controls the moribund civil rights group based in Atlanta.
But the legal wrangling will likely continue.
The loser in the fight, the Rev. Curtis Harris, has said he will appeal the ruling of a Fulton County Superior Court judge that took control of the civil rights group from Harris, treasurer Spiver Gordon and chairman Raleigh Trammell.
For nearly a year, the SCLC, founded by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has been represented by two separate boards of directors, with each claiming a legal right to run the organization. Last month, each faction held their own national convention.
In a stance illustrating the silliness of the situation, Harris said he will not work with Tucker's group to end the fighting.
If the SCLC is to survive, incoming leader Rev. Bernice King, daughter of the group's founder, needs to step in and squash Harris' losing SCLC faction like a bug, so the group can speak with a single voice.
I am not certain the SCLC will make it. Fighting for civil rights these days takes strong and smart leadership and there is little evidence the SCLC has either, but that could change with the legal ruling in place.