Civil rights group elects King's daughter

The daughter of the Reverend Martin Luther King has been chosen as the first woman to head the civil rights organisation that he co-founded.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) announced the election of the Reverend Bernice King as its eighth president this morning.

Interim president Byron Clay called Ms King and said she accepted the position.

“In the spirit of your father, Martin Luther King Jr, we look forward with anticipation to your leadership,” Mr Clay told Ms King, 46, as reporters listened to his end of the conversation.

She could be heard responding: “Thank you very much.”

“SCLC is a great organisation with a rich history,” Mr Clay told reporters. “She is excited. I am excited. The nation will be excited.”

Today, SCLC has roughly 10,000 members and nearly 80 chapters in 17 states from Georgia to California. The group has also opened a non-violent conflict resolution centre in Israel, with plans to open 10 international sites in 10 years.

Martin Luther King was the SCLC’s first president, serving from 1957 until his death in 1968. His eldest son, Martin Luther King III, was president from 1998 to 2003.

Bernice King inherits an SCLC and issues much changed from the days of her father’s leadership, and she will have to work to rebuild the organisation, which has stumbled in recent years.

“She can harken back to her father’s legacy, but she’s going to have to redefine it,” said Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie.

“She now, as his child, is going to have to figure out a way to push that legacy forward so we don’t perpetuate a stagnant, chauvinistic civil rights agenda.”

Internal bickering has overshadowed signs of progress for SCLC that included paying off millions in debt and opening a $3m (€2m) headquarters in Atlanta.

A former state director in Florida accused several national leaders of financial mismanagement and the president of the Los Angeles chapter last fall clashed with leadership over his support for gay marriage in California.

Charles Steele resigned as president on January 31 and still works with the group as a conflict resolution consultant.

Mr Clay has served as interim president since February. It is not yet known when Ms King will take over.