Donald Trump may have received a bizarre endorsement from Sarah Palin earlier this week, but now he’s receiving a lot of “anti-endorsements” as well. A number of prominent American voices, including celebrities, academics, and activists have joined together to help defeat Trump as he attempts to win the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.

The list of people who have signed on to the “Stop Hate Dump Trump” campaign is rapidly growing–it currently includes Harry Belafonte, Cornel West, Danny Glover, Jane Fonda, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Kerry Washington, Reza Aslan, Eve Ensler, Connie Britton, Gloria Steinem, Cynthia Nixon, Rosie O’Donnell, Dylan McDermott, and many others.

The petition to “Stop Hate Dump Trump” reads:

We believe Trump is a grave threat to democracy, freedom, human rights, equality, and the welfare of our country and all our people.

We have witnessed Trump inciting hatred against Muslims, immigrants, women, the disabled. We have seen him evidencing dangerous tendencies that threaten the bedrock of democracy: unleashing a lynch mob mentality against protestors, calling for the expulsion of Muslims from the country, bullying, and fear-mongering.

History has shown us what happens when people refuse to stand against hate-filled leaders.

We pledge ourselves to speak out in every way possible against the politics of hate and exclusion he represents.

The star-studded cohort that is backing the petition collectively has a pretty large microphone, and the campaign has generated plenty of buzz since it launched yesterday. In addition to criticizing Trump’s consistently racist, xenophobic, and sexist statements, the movement also appears to be critical of the media’s willingness to cover Trump’s latest outrageous remark without real criticism. Liza Donnelley, a cartoonist for the New Yorker, has also lent her talented pen to the movement, and has created some Dump Trump-inspired cartoons for the movement–her work criticizes both Trump, and also that cyclical media coverage.

Trump scares me. I drew some #cartoons, signed this petition. See here: https://t.co/DvNCUcPy6m #stophatedumptrump pic.twitter.com/U6VckyT7Jm

— lizadonnelly (@lizadonnelly) January 21, 2016

Trump scares me. I drew some #cartoons, signed this petition. See here: https://t.co/DvNCUcPy6m#stophatedumptrumppic.twitter.com/7H2xR27EOx — lizadonnelly (@lizadonnelly) January 21, 2016

Trump scares me. I drew some #cartoons, signed this petition. See here: https://t.co/DvNCUcPy6m #stophatedumptrump pic.twitter.com/mdEy50za8S — lizadonnelly (@lizadonnelly) January 21, 2016

The celebrities, activists, and others lending their names and voices to the Stop Hate Dump Trump movement collectively have a pretty large microphone–it’s admirable that they’re using it for a worthy cause. As we get closer and closer to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, we’ll have to see if they’re able to make any dent in Trump’s poll numbers.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day–a day to remember the legacy of an amazing man and the values for which he advocated. Unfortunately, however, his family may be spending this MLK Day working on a protracted legal battle over some of his possessions.

The current legal battle has to do with King’s personal Bible and his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. King has three surviving children–Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Beatrice Albertine King. Martin and Dexter want to sell the Bible and the Nobel Prize, Beatrice does not. All three siblings are shareholders in the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. Inc., which was created to manage all of Dr. King’s intellectual property and images. However, Bernice physically has the items in her possession. Her brothers are suing her to gain access to them, so they can sell the items. They’ve accused her of “secreting and sequestering” the items, violating a 1995 agreement that gave the Estate control over their father’s property. They are now in a court-ordered safety deposit box until this is sorted out.

Bernice and her attorneys claim that the ownership of these items wasn’t made clear in that 1995 agreement and that it’s in dispute. Bernice also argues that their father gave their mother, Coretta Scott King, the medal as a gift, meaning that it wouldn’t be considered under the Estate’s ownership. Bernice stated last year:

I will always love my brothers, but we are of different minds and most importantly, different relationships with God…These items should never be sold to any person, as I say it, or any institution, because they’re sacred. I take this strong position for my father because Daddy is not here to say himself, ‘My Bible and medals are never to be sold.’

The case appeared in an Atlanta court earlier this week, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney didn’t issue a decision at the time. A decision might be issued in the future, or the fight might actually go to a trial.

This infighting is by no means new–this is at least the fifth lawsuit between the siblings since 2006. For example, in 2013, the brothers sued Bernice and the nonprofit King Center (not to be confused with the Estate) that she runs. They alleged that she was negligent in handling some of MLK’s possessions. That case is also pending. It’s not always split by gender lines, either. In 2008, Bernice and Martin III sued Dexter for acting improperly in his position as the head of the estate. That case was settled privately.

In addition, the King siblings haven’t just limited their legal actions to each other. They’ve been involved in other lawsuits, such as one brought by singer and long-time family friend Harry Belafonte against the siblings. Like the current lawsuit, this one involved MLK’s property–Belafonte claimed that he owned personal papers of King’s given to him by Dr. King himself, Coretta Scott King, MLK aide Stanley Levison. Eventually a deal was reached that allowed Belafonte to retain the documents.

While it’s understandable that the siblings want to protect their father’s legacy, it’s tough to imagine that the constant legal back-and-forth is the best way to do so. While the outcome of the current case is still up in the air, hopefully it will end up the last.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post MLK’s Children in Legal Battle Over Bible, Nobel Peace Prize appeared first on Law Street.

Harry Belafonte, now a well-known singer and song-writer, was a huge supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his early career.  Belafonte provided for the King family both before and after Dr. King’s assassination.  He was able to partly finance many steps in the Civil Rights Movement, including the March on Washington and the Freedom Rides. He also bailed Dr. King out of jail a few times. After Dr. King’s assassination, he continued work as a political and humanitarian activist, and remained close to the family. However his connection to the King family seriously worsened after Coretta Scott King’s 2006 death. The last straw seemed to be when he was disinvited from Mrs. King’s funeral after he publicly spoke out against George W. Bush.

This week, Belafonte made headlines for a different reason. He has filed a lawsuit in the New York District Court against the children of the King family. The lawsuit stems from three papers that Belafonte claims were given to him by Dr. King, Coretta Scott King, and Stanley Levison—an aide to Dr. King. These papers include an outline of one of Dr. King’s speeches on Vietnam from 1967, a letter of condolence from President Johnson after Dr. King’s assassination, and an envelope from Dr. King’s pocket on the day of his assassination. Belafonte claims that the first of these documents, the speech outline, was given to him by Dr. King himself–in fact, the speech was supposedly written in Belafonte’s apartment. The letter was supposedly given to Belafonte by Coretta Scott King. And, finally, the envelope with Dr. King’s last written words was bequeathed to him by Stanley Levison’s will.

In 2008, Belafonte tried to sell these documents at an auction to raise money for charity. However the King family challenged Belafonte’s ability to sell these documents, claiming that he acquired them wrongfully and they belonged to the King estate. Belafonte has officially filed a suit to attempt to get himself declared the rightful owner so that they can officially be sold at a charity auction.

This is not the first time that an argument over Dr. King’s documents has made it to trial. In 1986, Coretta Scott King sued Boston University to return a large collection of Dr. King’s documents that he had given to the university 20-odd years before. In 2011, the King estate sued Dr. King’s former secretary, Maude Ballou to stop her from selling documents given to her by Dr. King before his death.

Belafonte’s lawyer is claiming that there is no evidence to suggest that Belafonte could have stolen or in any way wrongfully acquired these documents. Sources close both to Belafonte and the King family are somewhat dismayed with the actions that the King family have taken. In a recent New York Times piece, Clarence B. Jones, a former lawyer for Dr. King called the King family’s attempt to retake these documents as, “inconsistent with, and, really, a denigration of, the love and integrity that their dad had for the people who worked with him.”

The lawsuit offers an interesting question: what rights does an estate have to documents that have ended up in others’ possession? While it seems somewhat irrefutable that these documents belong to Belafonte and were given to him through legitimate means, will King’s estate have a leg to stand on?

[New York Times]

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Featured image courtesy of [Lloyd Lee via Flickr]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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