Two years ago this week, I was saddened to learn of Dexter King’s untimely death from prostate cancer at age 62. It seemed especially cruel that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s youngest son passed away exactly one week after America had observed his dad’s namesake holiday for the 38th year in a row.
I knew Dexter to be a kind, gracious, respectful man who was generous with his time. Back in 1986, when I was a journalism student at the University of Iowa, I tracked him down and interviewed him over the phone at length, for an article that I hoped would one, please my professor (it did), and two, get published (it did not).
My article was about Dexter’s passion project: “King Holiday,” a star-studded musical collab celebrating the first inaugural MLK Day on January 20, 1986. A recent Morehouse graduate, Dexter was working for the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta at the time, and in late 1985 he conceived the idea of having a “We Are the World”-type song to mark the first MLK Day, with proceeds going to the Center…