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King’s heirs still grappling with his killing 50 years later

In this Jan 10, 2018, photo, Bernice King poses for a photograph at the King Center, in Atlanta. The assassination of Martin Luther King sparked riots and eventually led many Americans to revere the civil rights icon that some reviled during his lifetime. For his three surviving children, the past five decades have meant coming to terms with their father's death and legacy. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)
In this Jan 10, 2018, photo, Bernice King poses for a photograph at the King Center, in Atlanta. The assassination of Martin Luther King sparked riots and eventually led many Americans to revere the civil rights icon that some reviled during his lifetime. For his three surviving children, the past five decades have meant coming to terms with their father's death and legacy. (AP Photo/Robert Ray) In this Jan 10, 2018, photo, Bernice King poses for a photograph at the King Center, in Atlanta. The assassination of Martin Luther King sparked riots and eventually led many Americans to revere the civil rights icon that some reviled during his lifetime. For his three surviving children, the past five decades have meant coming to terms with their father's death and legacy. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

By Associated Press 6 min read

ATLANTA (AP) – On April 4, 1968, a movement lost its patriarch when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis.

Yolanda, Martin, Dexter and Bernice King lost their father.

The loss has not gotten easier in 50 years, but his three surviving children each bear it on their own terms.

photo In this March 17, 1963, file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, sit with three of their four children in their Atlanta, Ga., home. From left are: Martin Luther King III, 5, Dexter Scott, 2, and Yolanda Denise, 7. On April 4, 1968, a movement lost its patriarch when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis. Yolanda, Martin, Dexter and Bernice King lost their father. (AP Photo/File)

“That period, for me, is like yesterday,” said Dexter King, now 57. “People say it’s been 50 years, but I’m living in step time. Forget what he did in terms of his service and commitment and contribution to humankind … I miss my dad.”

His children cling to the few memories they have left of him. For years, they have had to publicly mourn a man who was among the most hated in America at the time of his death – a task they have been reluctant and, at times, angry to carry out.