MLK Memorial Dream Soon to Be a Reality

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2006 — -- When President Bill Clinton authorized the building of a national memorial to honor Martin Luther King Jr. in 1998, the vision was still just a dream for the civil rights leader's fraternity brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha.

Now, eight years later, that dream is just months away from becoming a reality.

Today the 43rd anniversary of the march on Washington and King's "I Have a Dream" speech, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation announced it has raised $63.3 million for the memorial. A total of $100 million is needed to complete the project.The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 13.

"We're excited that it's coming to fruition," foundation president and CEO Harry E. Johnson Sr. said. "We expect construction to begin around February or March, when the weather breaks."

Adding star power to the project, NBA star Chris Webber and "Days of Our Lives" actor James Reynolds attended the press conference held this morning on the site of the future memorial.

"This is a tremendous healing moment," Reynolds said. "It signifies a nation that has finally joined 'by the content of their character.'"

Today the foundation launched a traveling billboard in hopes of gaining more exposure and attracting more contributions for the memorial.

It also announced the first 12 winners of the Kids for King national youth essay program. In all, 50 essay winners from around the country will be flown to Washington for November's groundbreaking ceremony.

The King memorial will stand on the National Mall at the east end of the Tidal Basin, in direct line with the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. The four-acre tribute will be the first on the National Mall to honor a person of color and the first to honor an individual who was not president.

According to the Memorial Foundation, the memorial will convey three fundamental and recurring themes from King's life: democracy, justice and hope. The centerpiece of the memorial, called the Stone of Hope, will include a 30-foot likeness of King.

There will also be a crescent-shaped stone wall inscribed with quotes and excerpts from his sermons, a place for visitors to reflect and a visitors' center.

The design competition for the memorial attracted more than 900 submissions from 52 countries. In September 2000, a panel of international architects selected the design from the ROMA group of San Francisco as the winner.

"I see it as a message of hope. Dr. King's message from 1963 is still in sync today. That peace outweighs violence," Johnson said.

The MLK National Memorial is not the first tribute to King. From Raleigh, N.C., to San Francisco, memorial parks and highways are named in honor of the man who preached nonviolence.

The largest memorial, the King Center, is in his hometown of Atlanta. Every year more than half a million people come to the King Center for unique exhibits, to view the library archives containing King's papers and video of his speeches, and to see his birthplace.

Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation's oldest African-American Greek-letter fraternity, conceived the idea of a National Memorial for King in the 1980s. King was one of many famous members of the fraternity.

If work proceeds on the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial as planned, it will be opened in 2008.