Million Man March:16 Years Later

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By: Michael H.Cottman

“I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.” --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, on the 16th anniversary of the historic Million Man March, thousands of African Americans will stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the banks of the Potomac River to commemorate the official dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, which features a towering 30-foot sculpture of the civil rights icon.

The memorial, which opened to the public Aug. 22, is located between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. It is not far from the Washington Monument and the memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The King memorial has been 26 years in the making and King is the first person of color and the first person who was not a U.S. president to be memorialized on the National Mall.

The White House announced that President Barack Obama will speak during the King dedication ceremony, a fitting opportunity for America’s first black president to honor King’s legacy while also underscoring the significance of the Million Man March -- the largest gathering of African American men in U.S. history that challenged black men to renew their faith, uplift their communities, become more involved in the lives of their families and honor black women. CONTINUE....

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King family draws fees from DC memorial project

By BRETT ZONGKER

WASHINGTON – The family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has charged the foundation building a monument to the civil rights leader on the National Mall about $800,000 for the use of his words and image — an arrangement one leading scholar says King would have found offensive.

The memorial — including a 28-foot sculpture depicting King emerging from a chunk of granite — is being paid for almost entirely with private money in a fundraising campaign led by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. The monument will be turned over to the National Park Service once it is complete.

The foundation has been paying the King family for the use of his words and image in its fundraising materials. The family has not charged for the use of King's likeness in the monument itself.

"I don't think the Jefferson family, the Lincoln family ... I don't think any other group of family ancestors has been paid a licensing fee for a memorial in Washington," said Cambridge University historian David Garrow, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of King. "One would think any family would be so thrilled to have their forefather celebrated and memorialized in D.C. that it would never dawn on them to ask for a penny."

King would have been "absolutely scandalized by the profiteering behavior of his children," Garrow said.

According to financial documents reviewed by The Associated Press, the foundation paid $761,160 in 2007 to Intellectual Properties Management Inc., an entity run by King's family. Documents also show a "management" fee of $71,700 was paid to the family estate in 2003.

In a statement to the AP, Intellectual Properties Management said the proceeds it receives go to the King Center in Atlanta, where King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, are entombed. The statement said the arrangement was made out of concern that fundraising for the monument would undercut donations to the King Center.

King family draws fees from DC memorial project....