Moving past internal turmoil, SCLC announces new leader, vision

<p>ATLANTA _ With oratory vigor and power reminiscent of co-founder Martin Luther King, Jr., the new president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference _ the storied organization tied to some of the civil rights movement's greatest achievements _ announced Friday the group will raise money and work against injustice around the world.</p><p>"The SCLC is moving forward," said Charles Steele Jr., the former Alabama state senator who left politics to help the SCLC and was appointed president on Friday of the organization that King helped found in 1957. "We've set together in a new direction, not only throughout this country but throughout the world."</p><p>Steele pledged to pull the organization out of financial problems by raising money through private and corporate donors.</p><p>The SCLC, which helped put together the 1963 March on Washington and the "Bloody Sunday" march that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, owes $43,000 in state and federal taxes. The group's pool of dues-paying members has shrunk; membership has dwindled from tens of thousands of members to about 3,000.</p><p>In addition, Steele said the SCLC will have offices in Italy, create conflict resolution centers around the world and has been asked by the Israeli government to help in Middle East peace talks.</p><p>SCLC officials also said they hope to cultivate the interest of a new generation of civil rights activists through programs related to next year's 40th anniversary of the historic civil rights march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala.</p><p>Board members announced the appointment of Steele, previously the group's executive vice president, after holding a closed door vote Friday at an Atlanta hotel, where board members were concluding a two-day retreat. Applause could be heard from the conference room and board members held hands, singing "We Shall Overcome" before adjourning their meeting.</p><p>"We are very proud of the announcement of our new leadership," said board member Bernard LaFayette Jr. "It's important to have a new vision and a new strategy."</p><p>The SCLC has been working to regroup and overcome the image that it is in internal and financial turmoil after its former president and co-founder, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, resigned on Wednesday.</p><p>Steele said he thought the idea that the image of the SCLC has suffered in the wake of Shuttlesworth's resignation was "exaggerated."</p><p>"We are together," Steele insisted. "You have a family, don't you? You all have disagreements. We love all civil rights leaders."</p><p>"The SCLC is not dead," added the Rev. Raleigh Trammel, who was elected the group's board chairman. "We're not searching for a leader. We already have a leader."</p><p>Shuttlesworth had questioned whether the group's current leadership can recover from entrenched financial strife and internal squabbling. That includes last year's resignation of the previous president, Martin Luther King III, and this summer's chaotic convention in which police had to be called to keep the peace.</p>