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New SCLC leadership seeks to regain relevance

A random sample of black college students finds little knowledge of civil rights group’s history, work.

Bishop Richard Cox, once Raleigh Trammell's assistant, calls for Trammell's resignation from both his national and local SCLC posts during a news conference.

Chris Stewart/Staff Bishop Richard Cox, once Raleigh Trammell's assistant, calls for Trammell's resignation from both his national and local SCLC posts during a news conference.

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Kenny Jones, 19, a Wright State University student from Dayton, said the Southern Christian Leadership Conference once had an impact but no longer does.

Lisa Powell Kenny Jones, 19, a Wright State University student from Dayton, said the Southern Christian Leadership Conference once had an impact but no longer does.

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By Tom Beyerlein , Staff Writer Updated 12:29 AM Sunday, September 12, 2010

From 1957 to 1968, it was a mighty force for racial equality, capable of amassing huge crowds to protest peacefully against the injustices of the times.

But last week, black students interviewed at random on the Wright State University campus had little or no knowledge of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the historic civil rights organization co-founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I honestly have never heard of it, so I guess it doesn’t have much impact,” said Tierra Isaac, 21, of Englewood. “Obviously, Martin Luther King did.”

Kashmire Brown, a 17-year-old freshman from Columbus, also drew a blank when asked about the SCLC. “Did I learn about it in school? Maybe,” she said.

The new leaders of both the national SCLC and its Dayton chapter say reconnecting with youth is a major goal as they remake the SCLC following the ouster of former national and local chairman, the Rev. Raleigh Trammell of Dayton.

James Brooks said his 23-year-old son didn’t know about the SCLC when Brooks became the Dayton chapter’s vice chairman recently.

“These young people don’t know the struggle that I went through and his grandfather went through,” Brooks said. “Racism has gotten better — I’ll be the first to admit that. It’s not the ’60s or the ’50s, but (racism) still exists.”

He said the new SCLC leadership plans to go into crime-ridden neighborhoods and talk with troubled youth about leading nonviolent lives.

Bishop Richard Cox, the Dayton chapter’s new president, said the group will “focus our attention on racism, poverty and violence” as it seeks to “hew a stone of hope out of the mountain of despair.”

Getting re-established

National board member Bernard LaFayette said the SCLC plans to visit college campuses to establish student SCLC groups. The organization has been helping people in the Gulf Coast region to obtain compensation in the wake of the BP oil spill, he said, and it’s trying to put together scholarships for college students in the gulf whose educations were interrupted because of the spill’s impact on the local economy.

Nonetheless, experts say the SCLC and other old line civil rights groups have a lot of work to do to overcome their stuck-in-the-past image, attract younger members and regain relevance after decades of decline.

“Trammell or no Trammell, the SCLC needed to change its image and improve its credibility,” said Andra Gillespie, who teaches courses in African-American politics at Emory University in Atlanta. “This (controversy over Trammell) is only going to make it harder.

“In its heyday, the SCLC had a very clear mission,” she said. “The SCLC hasn’t done a very good job of reinventing itself after having been so successful in the 1960s. What they need behind them is an intellectual movement attacking systemic racism and communicating with a public that doesn’t see systemic racism.”

Gillespie said the SCLC has been too closely identified with King, its leadership flagging after his 1968 assassination. The SCLC needs to be “not so caught up in Dr. King’s dream and legacy. They need to invent a new dream for the 21st century. I don’t see that happening.”

The national SCLC in October elected the Rev. Bernice King, King’s youngest child, as president. She has delayed taking office because of the controversy over whether Trammell was the legitimate chairman. Her brother, Martin Luther King III, resigned as president in 2004 after clashes with a board including Trammell, who became national chairman later in 2004. The Rev. Sylvia Tucker, the new national chairwoman, said it’s still uncertain when Bernice King may take office.

For most of this year, Trammell and Tucker each claimed to be the SCLC’s legitimate leader, prompting competing board meetings and national conventions. On Sept. 1, an Atlanta judge ruled that Trammell, 73, and his supporters are not legitimate leaders of the SCLC and handed control to Tucker’s board, which includes LaFayette. Tucker’s board fired Trammell amidst allegations that he and another officer misappropriated $569,000 in national SCLC funds. The judge’s ruling gave Trammell’s opponents control of the SCLC’s finances.

A longtime Trammell critic, LaFayette said Trammell was able to rise to national leadership “because people assume folks have good intentions, and checks and balances were not in place (to oversee Trammell’s actions).” He added wryly: “We’re in a period of reconciliation: We’re trying to reconcile our bank accounts.”

Cox, Brooks and new Dayton chapter Chairman Keith Lander say the SCLC and King’s philosophies are still relevant. They point to the current controversies about immigration, the rise of the Tea Party and racist comments about President Obama as evidence.

But on the Wright State campus, Kenny Jones isn’t so sure about the group’s relevance.

“I don’t really see how it affects today’s life,” said Jones, 19, of Dayton. “It (the civil rights era) was so long ago.”

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