The civil rights world is mourning the surprise death of Dexter Scott King.
Top News Today :
Dexter King, the youngest son of Coretta Scott King and the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., passed away on Monday at his home in Malibu, CA. The King Center in Atlanta, where King served as chairman, said the 62-year-old son of the civil rights icon died “peacefully in his sleep” after a bout with prostate cancer.
According to The Associated Press, Dexter was the 3rd of Martin and Coretta’s 4 children and was named after the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father served as a pastor during the Montgomery bus boycott and the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks.
His death comes only 1 week after the nation celebrated the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
Emotional tributes to Dexter King poured in throughout the day from members of the King family.
“He transitioned peacefully in his sleep at home with me in Malibu,” Leah Weber King, his wife of 11 years, said in a statement. “He gave it everything and battled this terrible disease until the end. As with all the challenges in his life, he faced this hurdle with bravery and might.”
“I cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling, my brother, Dexter. I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time,” Rev. Bernice King, CEO of the King Center, said of her brother.
I cannot express the heartbreak I feel from losing another sibling, my brother, Dexter. I’m praying for strength to get through this very difficult time. pic.twitter.com/enk6lJwNDi
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) January 22, 2024
“I am deeply saddened to share that my brother, Dexter Scott King, has passed away. The sudden shock is devastating. It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this. Please keep the entire King family in your prayers, and in particular, Dexter’s wife, Leah Weber,” Martin Luther King III, said.
Dexter Scott King was preceded in death by his father, Martin Luther King, Jr., his mother, Coretta Scott King, and his sister, Yolanda King. He was 62.
OK WASSUP! discusses the Top News Today:
Dexter Scott King is remembered in death.
Admittedly, I didn’t know that much about Dexter. But I do know this…
Mrs. Coretta Scott King and her 4 little children were robbed of so much, when Dr. King was assassinated. And yet she AND her children somehow bore the burden of such unimaginable loss, pain and pressure with so much Dignity and Grace.
Two of the King children now gone, much too soon.
May he Rest in Peace! 🙏