Harry Belafonte suing MLK children

The New York Times reports that issue Mr. Belafonte is suing over three documents that used to be in his collection of memorabilia, along with personal ephemera "chronicling his long friendship with Dr. King."

Dr. King’s heirs — Dexter, Bernice and Martin Luther King III — claim these documents were taken without permission and belong to the King estate.

Mr. Belafonte, according to the times, supported the King family financially during the civil rights struggle and that Dr. King’s children have disappointed him. “The papers are symbolic,” he said. “It’s really about what happened to the children, and I feel that somewhere, in this one area, I really failed Martin.”

The Times notes the documents include a three-page outline for Dr. King’s 1967 speech “The Casualties of the War in Vietnam,” written on a legal pad in Mr. Belafonte’s New York apartment. The second is a letter of condolence from President Lyndon B. Johnson to Mrs. King. The third is an envelope Dr. King had in his pocket the day he was assassinated in 1968. On it he had scribbled notes for a speech he was to give in Memphis.

Back in 2008, Mr. Belafonte attempted a sale with Sotheby’s auction house to raise money for Barrios Unidos, a charity that works with street gangs. Dr. King’s estate stopped the sale and asserted in a letter to Sotheby’s that they are “part of a wrongfully acquired collection.”

Sotheby returned the documents to Mr. Belafonte until the dispute is settled.

The Times reports that Tuesday, Mr. Belafonte filed papers in federal court in Manhattan to be declared the rightful owner.

Mr. Belafonte’s lawyer, Jonathan Abady, argued that the King estate has never presented evidence that Mr. Belafonte stole the documents. Adding to that, the three-year time limit for filing a suit in New York to reclaim them has passed, he said.