<p>Southern Christian Leadership Conference co-founder Joseph Lowery spoke out Tuesday against allegations that he and his wife shirked their responsibilities to the civil rights group, saying a lawsuit was "violating the spirit of Martin Luther King."</p><p>The SCLC board has sued Lowery, 81, saying he violated his financial responsibility to the group by leasing office space to an organization run by his wife, Evelyn, for $1 a year. The suit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court on April 5, claims Lowery did not seek the board's approval before entering into the lease agreement in 1994.</p><p>Flanked by dozens of national and local civil rights figures, Lowery, who served as the SCLC's president from 1977 to 1997, said he often dealt with disagreements within the organization but never brought the disputes to court.</p><p>"I'm saddened by the suit, but I'm not beat down by it," said Lowery, who helped found the civil rights group with King and the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy Jr. in 1957.</p><p>The board also named SCLC/W.O.M.E.N. in the lawsuit, claiming it was guilty of fraud for using the organization's name and King's image "without the authorization or approval" of the SCLC board.</p><p>By using the SCLC name, the women's group is obligated to be accountable to the board. But when asked to produce budgets, bank records and corporate minutes for the board's review, it has not complied, said the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.</p><p>"We strenuously deny the allegations in the complaint," said the Lowerys' attorney, Tom Sampson. "There was no fraud, there was no breach of fiduciary duty, there was no tort, there is no case."</p><p>Sampson added that the SCLC filed two similar lawsuits against the Lowerys in the past and both were dropped within weeks.</p><p>"It's most unfortunate that this tactic was taken to attempt to solve whatever disagreements exist," he said.</p><p>Lowery supporters called for the resignation of board chairman Claud Young, whom they claim has been a contentious figure in the civil rights community for years.</p><p>"It's obvious that he cannot be effective, and as long as he continues to serve as chair of the board, we will continue to have this dissention," said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, a former SCLC staff member. "These issues that we're discussing do not belong in litigation. They belong in mediation or negotiation."</p><p>Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, a top lieutenant of King's during the civil rights movement and former SCLC executive director, defended Evelyn Lowery's desire to keep SCLC/W.O.M.E.N. an independent group.</p><p>"The women have given more to SCLC ... in terms of cash than all this board has raised on its own. They really want to take over somebody's work rather than do some work on its own," Young said of the SCLC leadership.</p><p>"You've got an old, chauvinist preacher population still left in the SCLC that doesn't understand that they won't go very far without the leadership and support and cooperation of women," he added.</p><p>Calls to the SCLC and its attorney, Samuel Henry, were not returned Tuesday.</p><p>The organization, once a leading voice in the civil rights movement, has struggled in recent years to overcome internal conflict and remain relevant amidst the changing political landscape and the rising prominence of other black civil rights groups.</p><p>The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth recently became interim president of the SCLC after Martin Luther King III resigned last November to take over as president of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. In 2001, King survived an attempt by the SCLC board, led by Claud Young, to oust him after accusing him of being insubordinate and failing to raise enough money for the organization.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>Southern Christian Leadership Conference: www.sclcnational.org</p>
