Civil Rights leader charged with Incest

The daughter of Reverend James L. Bevel, famed civil rights leader and follower of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, alleged her father routinely molested her starting when she was six years old.

Rev. Bevel plead not guilty on April 7th, prior to jury selection beginning. Former Vice-Presidential candidate Bevel, 71, has said, "If I did any of these things she says I did I'd walk up to the prison door, knock on it, and demand to be let in." Prosecutors claim he molested her as a teenager and psychologically abused her claiming it was part of her, "religious training." The unnamed daughter claims she was raised in a communal lifestyle, and regularly saw her father have sex with other woman making her think her molestations were normal. She also alleges her mother knew about the behavior after having been informed of it through a written letter from the daughter. Three of his other daughters, of which he has fourteen, have also made the allegation their father sexually abused them, but are not involved in the case other than as witnesses. Also, Loudoun County prosecutors "are getting calls from people all over the country saying the defendant engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct," prosecutor Gigi Lawless said at a bond hearing last June. Jurors listened to a recording yesterday between Bevel and his daughter. Though he never explicitly admitted to the crime in the recording he does refer to "our interaction" and seems to blame the daughter at various times for weakness by refusing to resist him. "You ain't made the decision not to (fornicate)," he told his daughter in vulgar language. "You can't know who you are until you decide not to (fornicate)." At another point in the October 2005 conversation, which was recorded by the Leesburg Police Department, Bevel says the encounter increased his knowledge of how men and women interact, and improved his ability to teach others about proper marital relations. "I want to thank you for contributing to the body of knowledge," Bevel says during the call that it's his duty to teach the world the difference between "emotional-sexual romance and constitutional intimacy." Rev. Bevel participated in the 1961 Freedom Ride, served as Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's SCLC, organized and directed the 1963 Children's Crusade. He also co-wrote the proposal for the Right-To-Vote Project, which led to President Lyndon B. Johnson signing into law the Voting Rights Act which eliminated literacy tests for voters. This strengthened the position of the 15th Amendment, which was signed into law in 1870, after Jim Crow laws restricted black rights with the promise of separate but equal. Rev. Bevel is also credited with helping organize the Million Man March.