He’s walking in the steps of LBJ and MLK, both champions of the poor

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, taking a cue from such anti-poverty crusaders as President Lyndon B. Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., says it’s time to launch a full-frontal assault on poverty. “We need to re-invest in America,” the 66-year-old civil rights leader told a crowd of nearly 300 people in Chicago during a fund-raiser for Covenant United Methodist Church. The speech attracted Democrats and Republicans, and it did not address either political party. That’s because it’s not all about politics or presidential campaigns, said Jackson, who is pushing voter registration and education. “Change has to come from the bottom up, not just the top down,” Jackson said at a news conference prior to his speech.

The youngest son of Martin Luther King Jr. fights back

Two children of Martin Luther King Jr. have been sued by the institution their mother founded, under allegations by their brother that they have used The King Center for Nonviolent Change for personal gain. Dexter King, the center’s chairman, filed the lawsuit Monday against his brother and sister, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, in a countersuit to the one his siblings filed against him earlier this year. Dexter says his siblings have established foundations in direct competition with The King Center for Nonviolent Change, according to The Associated Press. Dexter King also says in the lawsuit that his brother used the center without permission to meet with then-presidential candidate John Edwards in January 2008. In July, Bernice and Martin Luther King III sued their brother to force him to open the books of their father’s estate.