Martin Luther King III Joins with IJ To Denounce Mississippi Eminent Domain Abuse

July 2001

Martin Luther King III Joins with IJ To Denounce Mississippi Eminent Domain Abuse

The Institute for Justice has a new ally in its fight against the State of Mississippi’s abuse of eminent domain.  In June, Martin Luther King III, the national president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, joined with IJ advocates, clients and more than 100 supporters at a candlelight prayer vigil in Canton, Mississippi, the evening before a key hearing to decide whether or not the government can take the land of Madison County property owners not for a public use, but for the benefit of a private company—Nissan Motor Co.—which plans to build an auto plant.  King joined with IJ to denounce the State’s plans to throw our clients, who have owned their property for generations, out of their homes and off their land.  The emotion-filled evening included impassioned presentations by King, Mellor and Bullock interspersed with songs and a moving rendition of “We Shall Overcome.”

Martin Luther King III, the national president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), joined with the Institute for Justice at a prayer vigil the evening before a key property rights court hearing. With King are IJ client Lonzo Archie and Executive Director of the SCLC’s Jackson Chapter Stephanie Parker-Weaver. Among the IJ advocates who participated in the vigil were, from left, IJ President Chip Mellor, Director of Outreach Programs Maureen Blum and Senior Attorneys Scott Bullock and Dana Berliner.

The next day’s hearing lasted 18 hours!  We expect the court to rule soon.