A Fight to Define Historic Civil Rights Group

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference founding in 1957 by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., along with others leaders such as the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, to lead a region and a nation in nonviolent confrontation with the injustices of segregation is facing defections and claims of financial improprieties and anti-gay civil rights attacks on its leaders.

Recent report in the New York Times, the Advocate and other LGBT media sources have questioned the SCLC’s commitment to full civil rights as new has broke that the national organizations was seeking to outs the president of its Los Angeles chapter over his support for marriage equality for same sex couple in California. But as is often the case, the battle of LGBT rights is only part of the story of this storied icon of civil rights institutions.

The Media Reports

SCLC like many other historic civil rights organizations has sought to redefine its voice, relevance and priorities in light of the changed landscape of today’s movements for economic and racial justice. As the final decisions are being made for this year’s convention, newspapers and blogs have reported on a number of internal organizational challenges that are vying for center stage.

Leaders of the former Florida state chapter of the SCLC are struggling with national leaders in Atlanta to maintain control of their turf. In Los Angeles, chapter President the Rev. Eric Lee recently said the national SCLC has been trying to fire him because he actively supports same-sex marriage and gay rights.

The SCLC dissolved the Florida state chapter because it said that they failed to keep at least three local branches organized and because of other unspecified factors. The Florida leaders contend they are they are victims of retaliation for raising questions about SCLC finances. The former SCLC officials from Florida claim that more than $1 million that was given to the nonprofit SCLC Foundation, a separate organization controlled by SCLC board members, did not show up in the SCLC form 990, a yearly IRS financial report. SCLC lawyers contend the foundation filed its own 990 form and added that the money was used for new offices on Auburn Avenue and did not have to be routed through the SCLC.

The Board of Directors of the Florida SCLC voted unanimously to join a new organization, the National Christian Leadership Conference, ending ties with the SCLC for Chapters from Pensacola to Tallahassee, from St. Petersburg to St. Augustine. Sevell C. Brown III (pictured) of St. Petersburg is leading the new group.

The New York Times has reported that during the battle last fall over Proposition 8, an amendment to the State Constitution that banned same-sex marriage, the Rev. Eric P. Lee, was more than a tangential figure for the opposition. In May, Lee received a call from the National Board of Directors summoning him immediately to Atlanta to explain why he had taken a position on same-sex marriage without the authority of the national board. Because chapters of the leadership conference operate autonomously and presidents are picked by local boards, it is not clear that the national organization has the authority to remove Mr. Lee from his post, which he has held for two years.

Who's Talking

The local SCLC board leader and secretary of the state's Democratic Party, has defended Lee and challenged the national leaders' ability to fire him. Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti also wrote a letter of support.

In an unusual attempt to intervene in the internal matters of another organization the interim Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition wrote to SCLC Chairman Dr. Byron C. Clay calling on SCLC to reverse their earlier course of action, calling for a hearing and potential repercussions against the Lee of the SCLC. NBJC and SCLC are both members of the Black Leadership Forum a coalition designed to encourage greater cooperation among Black organizations. It was unclear from media reports if NBJC had contacted SCLC official prior to making the letter public.