King's legacy Civil rights icon's name invoked in causes from w

Martin Luther King Jr.'s image has been used to protest a potential war on Iraq, denounce a gay rights law and sell wireless phone service.

The trouble, of course, is that the civil rights leader "is not here to speak for himself," said the Rev. Richard Bennett, executive director of the African American Council of Christian Clergy in Miami.

On the eve of the holiday commemorating King's birth, some scholars and civil rights leaders say that while it's not much of a stretch to assert that King would have opposed war with Iraq -- he was an advocate of nonviolence and critical of American intervention in Vietnam -- commercial use of his image and words is going too far.

"The overall danger that we run, and that we've run ever since the holiday was adopted, is that King is used so widely that in most instances it drains the real political substance and challenge from his message," said David J. Garrow. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his book, "Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference."

King, who was assassinated in 1968, would have turned 74 last Wednesday. The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is observed on Monday.

Coretta Scott King, in an interview with The Associated Press, recalled how her husband spoke out against the Vietnam War and was told "you ought to stick to civil rights."

"He said, 'I've fought too long and too hard against segregation to now segregate my moral concerns,"' she said.

Groups in Miami-Dade County invoked King's name last year on another issue -- opposing gay rights.

They distributed fliers with King's picture in an effort to repeal an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. "Martin Luther King Jr. would be OUTRAGED!" if he knew gays "were abusing the civil rights movement to get special rights based on their sexual behavior," the fliers said. The repeal effort failed.

Bennett, of the Miami clergy group, said he had misgivings about the use of King's picture. But his group endorsed the fliers because it decided "as a Christian organization, we should make a statement that we believe King would have gone against the ordinance," Bennett said.

Craig Washington disagrees. The executive director of the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Center cited King's words -- "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" -- and said there are parallels between oppression based on race and on sexual orientation.

"There is no evidence that King supported oppressing gays," Washington said.

King never spoke publicly on the subject, but his widow has supported gay rights.

What also has sparked debate is the use of King's image and words -- with the family's permission -- in advertising for Alcatel, Cingular Wireless and Apple Computer.

Garrow says the practice "cheapens King's historical reputation and image by depicting him as simply a commercial symbol available for rent."

To Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the use of King's name is "a tribute to both how powerful his image remains and how antiseptic he has become."

"In life, he was a radical figure," Bond said. "He was a severe critic of the very capitalism that is now exploiting him."

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On the Net:

King Center: http://www.thekingcenter.com/

King Papers Project: http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/