King strikes back after rebuke from SCLC board

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Martin Luther King III said Thursday he remains firmly in control of the civil rights group founded by his father. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference will hold its 43rd annual convention next month in Alabama amid reports that its leadership is uncertain.

"My tenure as president is not going to be in question at the annual convention at Montgomery," King told reporters at a news conference.

He was responding to a story Wednesday in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that said the board had admonished King to shape up as president of the 44-year-old organization or lose his job.

The article said board chairman Claud Young described King as "insubordinate, obstinate" and complained he had not raised money for the civil rights group during his three years as president.

"I must say that I'm very disappointed that our chairman chose to air the issues of internal SCLC working before the nation," King said. "That is not the place to air issues."

The newspaper cited the board's removal of 28-year-old Lamell J. McMorris, whom King had selected as national executive director and chief operating officer, as proof the board is serious about who is in charge.

King called the move "a personnel matter, and certainly not the subject of discussion."

He said whatever disagreements he may have had with the board, on which his mother serves, have been resolved.

"Although there may have been, and I must accentuate, may have been, internal issues that needed to be addressed, those issues have been addressed and we're moving forward," he said.

Among the criticisms leveled at King was that he spent little time at the organization's Atlanta headquarters. But King said his job demanded that he travel three or four days per week "all over the nation."

About the fund-raising concerns cited by the newspaper, he said, "We have raised money, and we're going to continue to raise money."

Then, apparently throwing the issue back to the board, he said, "One of the main functions of the board is to assist by raising funds. Our board is going to be doing that."

Asked whether he shares the same goals as the board, he said, "I'd say the president's job is to set the agenda. The board's job is to vote on the policy. When the president and the board understand their roles, we all move forward."

King cited the digital divide -- the slow rate at which poor people have gained access to the Internet -- as a new challenge that will be addressed at next month's convention.