Martin Luther King III skips S.D. stop during tour

| Wednesday, August 02, 2006

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PORCUPINE -- Oglala Sioux Tribe members and families were more insulted than disappointed Tuesday after the eldest son of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. skipped the South Dakota leg of a Learning and Listening Tour of the "Realizing the Dream" movement.

Indian activist, actor and author Russell Means said his staff had to contact officials in Chicago Tuesday morning to find out what had happened when Martin Luther King III did not arrive on his flight at Rapid City Regional Airport.

As part of the "Realizing the Dream" movement, Means had arranged meetings with several families and a tour of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

"I think Indian people have been insulted; I think this is a flagrant example of racism," Means said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon from his T.R.E.A.T.Y. School office in Porcupine.

King's staff told Means that the civil-rights activist had only one day available for himself and that Tuesday's planned reservation tour had been deemed overambitious. So, King decided to cancel his visit, Means said.

But his office failed to notify Means of the change Monday night.

Means said it was unconscionable and unacceptable that they would not notify them that King was going to cancel.

Means said Chief Oliver Red Cloud, an 83-year-old elder who uses a wheelchair, was waiting to meet King. "He had other things he could have been doing than waiting for that guy," Means said.

There are no plans to reschedule a tour, Means said.