The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the national mall in Washington, DC has now officially been dedicated.
Led by President and Mrs. Obama and their children, as well as Martin Luther King III, Bernice King, members of the King family and various dignitaries, the King memorial was made official on Sunday morning, after Hurricane Irene caused the cancellation of the original dedication in late August.
Dr. King’s youngest and only surviving daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, said, “I’m hoping that when people leave here that they will be reinvigorated to make a certain adjustment so we can move our society toward that beloved community” of which King spoke “and we can move these walls of divisiveness.”
President Obama used the event to remind the crowd that Dr. King did not quit when the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act did not end poverty and discrimination. “Dr. King … didn’t say, ‘This is too hard,'” Mr. Obama said. “Instead, he said let’s take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice. Let’s fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work. In other words, when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to accept what he called the ‘isness’ of today. He kept pushing towards the ‘oughtness’ of tomorrow.”
Dedication of the $120. million dollar memorial was a long time coming, and its realization prompted some tears in the audience and cracked voices from some of the speakers. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is currently open to the public and is a dream fulfilled for America’s most revered civil rights leader.
<span>I started watching the event when Aretha was on singing. And I continued watching straight through the entire speech by the President followed by the film of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech. That speech always gives me chills! But in a deeply moving and Optimistic way. Btw: Regarding Bernice King. The truth is, given Bernice's role in assisting The so-called "Bishop" Eddie Long in sowing the seeds of Hatred, bigorty and DIVISION against Gay men and Lesbians, her words rang rather disingenuous and hollow to me, in particular…"and we can move these walls of divisiveness." </span><span>But back to Dr. King: He, his wife Loretta Scott King, and ALL of the Brave souls (Black and White) who put their lives on the line fighting for Liberty, Justice, AND Equality FOR ALL Americans are indeed worthy of every Honor, tribute, and laudatory notice they recieve!</span>