Martin Luther King III says mother taught him to be ‘best self’

SEATTLE — The 60th anniversary celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s only visit to Seattle brought his oldest son back to the Emerald City.

Martin Luther King III sat down exclusively with KIRO 7 for our Your Voices segment.

He shares a name with one of the most famous people in American history. So one could be forgiven for thinking there is very little left to learn about Martin Luther King III’s famous father.

He confirms that his father’s friends called him “ML.”

“Yeah, he was called that,” said King. “And at one time he was called ‘Little Mike’ because he started off as ‘Michael.’ And when he was about 6 years old, my grandfather changed — they both were ‘Michaels’ — the name to ‘Martin Luther.’”

There is an ease about this Martin Luther King.  His mother, Coretta Scott King, was concerned about naming him for his not-yet-famous dad while living in Alabama’s capital city.

“I think she instinctively knew, being in Montgomery in 1955 — I was born in ‘57,” King said.  “But the boycott began in ‘55.  And Dad was thrust on a stage that became a national stage. And so she instinctively was concerned about having to live up to those standards. But Dad won out.”

He was just 10 years old when his dad died.  So it was his mother who helped set him on a course for how to live in the shadow of a larger-than-life figure.

“One of the things she used to say when I was young is, ‘You don’t have to be a minister. You don’t have to go to Morehouse College. You don’t have to be involved in civil rights. Just be your best self. And we will support you,’” said King.

But of course, he did follow his father and grandfather to historically black Morehouse College and joined the fight for civil and human rights, too. His younger sister, Berniece, not he, answered the call to the ministry.

“But two of the three things I have been involved in and am now doing,” said King.

And, like his Dad, he is not afraid to take controversial stands.

He met with President Trump.

“I did,” he confirmed. “I met him the day before he was actually inaugurated. I was heavily criticized.”

He says he met with the former president for a simple reason.

“Because I think that no matter what or who is president, there has to be dialogue with that person,” he said.

After all, he said, his father met in the 1950s with Republican President Eisenhower and his Vice President Richard Nixon, and every president after that until his death in 1968.

Now he is taking up some of the same causes to which his parents dedicated their lives. And even now, some 53 years after his death, his father’s words resonate.

“The last book of my father, he entitled it, ‘Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community?’” said King.  “We’ve seen chaos.”

“We saw the height of chaos on January 6. But we don’t want chaos. So my job, my wife’s job, even our daughter is to make sure people know there is a model. There is an opportunity to create what my dad would have called ‘the beloved community.’”

So then has his name been a gift or a curse?

“Not a curse,” King insisted. “Far more of a gift than anything else.”

It is a gift he continues to use to help forge change.

©2021 Cox Media Group