Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 16 November 2006 — Page 3

The Muncie Times • November 16, 2006 • Page 3

continued from page 1 Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, men who are remembered for their contributions to ending slavery and the Declaration of Independence. So far, almost twothirds ($66 million) needed for the project has been collected, mostly from major corporations. Bush and Clinton were joined by Oprah Winfrey, poet Maya Angelou, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, politicians, business executives and others at the event where tickets were required for admission. The King Memorial is the first on the National Mall honoring a black American, and will occupy a spot midway

Martin Luther King Jr. and son Dexter Scott King Declaration of speech. Independence and the Clinton, who received Emancipation a standing ovation from

while Lincoln used the Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery. However, both men "left much undone". Clinton said, Dr. King was "the voice and spirit of the movement to lift the last legal racial barriers to our more perfect union." It was a thought echoed by Bush who said the monument gave Dr. 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." "Dr. King was on this earth just 39 years," the president said, but his ideas are "eternal." "When Martin Luther King came to Washington in the summer of 1963," Bush said,

A model of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial this design was selected out of 900 submitted

between monuments to Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln presidents whose contributions included the

Proclamation ending slavery. The site is also close to where Dr. King delivered his iconic Aug. 28, 1963, “I Have a Dream”

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A walking map of the MKL Jr. National Memorial

the largely African American crowd and who signed the 1996 law creating the King Memorial, said, “It belongs here.” Clinton said the two former presidents, who will soon have King for a neighbor, did much for the country. He said Jefferson "told us we were all created equal"

"he came to hold this nation to its own standards. ... He stood not far from here ... with thousands gathered around him. His dream spread a message of hope. "An assassin's bullet could not shatter his dream. As we break ground, we give Martin Luther King his rightful

place among the many Americans honored on the National Mall. It will unite the men who declared the promise of America and defended the promise of America with the man who redeemed the promise of America." Talk show host Winfrey said, "It is because of Dr. King that I stand. That I have a voice to be heard. "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." Harry Johnson, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, said he hopes to have the site completed by the spring of 2008. "When we finish this Memorial, we will have a King among presidents," said Johnson. "We're proud to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a memorial he deserves and we're elated to be one step closer to finishing this momentous project." Congress passed Joint Resolutions in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. to establish a memorial honoring Dr. King to be built in Washington, D.C. You may make a donation online or send a check to the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., Department 211, Washington, DC 20055.