Ground broken at Mall for memorial to King
WASHINGTON – Two presidents, a renowned poet and lions of the civil rights movement joined thousands gathered on the Mall Monday to pay homage to Martin Luther King Jr., a humble pastor who beseeched the nation to live up to its principles and earned a place in the pantheon of American history.
Ground was broken for a memorial to the slain civil rights leader to be built along the edge of the Tidal Basin, midway between monuments to Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. It will be the first on the Mall honoring an African American and the first that does not memorialize a president or war hero.
Ignoring the gloomy weather, people wearing dapper hats and winter coats came by Metro, by bus, by limousine. Fathers brought sons to impart a history lesson. Celebrities waved and smiled. Dignitaries spoke of a movement sparked by a man trying to be a good minister.
President Bush said the memorial will give King his “rightful place among the great Americans honored on our Mall.” He said King’s message of justice and liberty “continues to inspire millions across the world” and was not silenced by an assassin’s bullet.
The crowd of several thousand attending the groundbreaking gave a standing ovation to former President Clinton, who signed the bill authorizing the monument on land tucked in the Tidal Basin’s famous ring of cherry trees.
“It belongs here,” said Clinton, basking in the crowd’s enthusiasm. Jefferson “told us we were all created equal,” and Lincoln abolished slavery; but both “left much undone,” Clinton said.
He added that contemporary lessons could be learned from King’s legacy of nonviolence. “Civil disobedience works better than suicide bombing,” he said.
Clinton and Bush were joined by Oprah Winfrey, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., poet Maya Angelou, three of King’s children and designer Tommy Hilfiger, among others.
Winfrey said she came to the event because “I’ve lived the dream.”
“It is because of Dr. King that I stand, that I have a voice to be heard,” Winfrey said. “I do not take that for granted. Not for one breath. … Because he was the seed of the free, I get to be the blossom.”
King’s children said they hope the memorial will be a place where millions of children can come to learn about their father’s work and the beginnings of the civil rights movement.
“Our father just wanted to be a great pastor,” said Bernice King, his youngest daughter. “Little did he know, he became a great pastor to a nation.”
The memorial is scheduled to open in 2008, though fund-raising is still under way and the day’s ceremonies did not mark an official beginning of construction. Organizers have raised about two-thirds of the $100 million needed to develop the four-acre site.