Niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Hopeful Her Cousins Can Resolve Dispute

Broadcast version of this story.

WABE’s Rose Scott reports, she hopeful the siblings can work through the dispute.

Dr. Alveda King says the rift is a difference of philosophy among the King children.

“He was a preacher and Bernice is a preacher. And so she says to her brother, it’s one thing to sell his books which he copyrighted to make them available for sell, but you don’t sell a preacher’s bible.”

And it’s not just the bible; the King Brothers are also looking to sell their father’s 1964 Nobel Peace prize medal.

Alveda King says that award is a symbol of the civil rights movement.

“Because Martin Luther King, Jr said, I don’t accept this for myself; I accept it on behalf of the communities which I’m living to serve, which he ended up dying to serve.”

Alveda King runs the King Center Legacy foundation.

Her father A.D. was the younger brother of Dr. King.

He died a year after King’s assassination.

And while the family is accustomed to being in the spotlight for the good and under the microscope for the bad, Dr. Alveda King downplays this clash between Bernice and her brothers.

“You’ve got to understand that these kinds of differences do come up in family, so I don’t feel embarrassed, I don’t feel ashamed of Martin and Dexter even. I really, totally, do not share their viewpoint nor their philosophy, but they are entitled to that.”

Alveda King tells WABE, friends of the family, such as Andrew Young and Rev. Joseph Lowery, have been trying to help arbitrate.

She’s hopeful a resolution will come outside of the courtroom.