In Albany, Charles Jones and Cordell Reagon were more abrasive than Sherrod in their judgment of King. They called him “De Lawd,” a SNCC nickname mocking both King’s pomposity and the submissiveness of ordinary church folk. They also intimated that they had orchestrated the Albany negotiations toward precisely the result that followed: King’s removal from Albany, bearing the onus of a weak settlement. This remained their secret almost as much as Anderson’s mental crisis remained King’s. They privately endorsed a weak settlement in order to promote a strong movement, privately sought King’s
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