Morgan Freeman with Will Pitt on the MLK Memorial
Monday 17 January 2005

William Rivers Pitt: Thirty six years after the murder of Dr. King, plans are in motion to build a memorial to his life, his activism and his teachings in Washington DC. Given the days we live in - with war and economic uncertainty and fear served to us with our daily bread - a memorial to a man who preached non-violent resistance is timely. What aspects of the memorial will focus on King's legacy in this regard, and speaking personally, what aspects of Kings legacy in this regard find resonance with you in these days?

Morgan Freeman: Every aspect of this monument seems appropriate for these times. While some are confused and frustrated today with the conditions of our world, the monument offers the tenets of Christ, as Dr. King understood them, to provide calm - the water effects that are part of the design will allow a place for reflection. While storms and earthquakes ravage the land with power that mystifies us, the monument's etched phrases will speak of the peace within one's self - as Gandhi understood it and Dr. King perceived it from Gandhi's teachings. The monument itself - a peace monument to a peaceful man in a valley that has long commemorated great and hard-fought wars and the Presidents of our vast and diverse nation - the very idea of it pulses.

What does Dr. King mean to you? How do you feel about being involved in the movement to establish a memorial for him and his work?

I spent a great deal of time in the South, growing up there as a child in and around Memphis. As an adult, I was very aware of Dr. King's message and how it affected the people who lived in Southern communities. He was a person, more than any actor, more than just about any other statesman of his time, who had 'presence' in the surest form. I believe it was something that was born in him but that he cultivated with resolution because he knew the power that his particular kind of presence could have in the world.

He knew that change was inevitable but that choice affecting change, non-violence affecting change, peace in the midst of change would make the difference. This is a powerful example that he set for us and posterity. Any reminder of the example that was his life is important. In times of war, of heartache, of despair - in the best of times, we need to remember the power of an exemplary life. We need to remember, always, Dr. King's tenets and his life.

Can you tell me about the process involved in gaining approval for this monument, where it will be located, and what the overall concept behind its construction is?

A memorial, long overdue, will be built on the National Mall in Washington. It will be appropriately situated on four acres of the nation's most hallowed ground in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The centerpiece is large a "Stone of Hope," on which the silhouette of Dr. King will be carved, symbolizing his walking out of the mountain of despair. Dr. King's sermons and speeches will be etched into a significant portion of the Memorial. The Memorial will fittingly be situated in the midst of the cherry blossoms, which will be bloom each year on the anniversary of Dr King's assassination.

This memorial project came about from the ambitious efforts of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternities. For over 20 years, the fraternity worked to make this dream a reality. As a result, in 1996, Congress signed an Act authorizing a Memorial in Washington and President Clinton signed the legislation authorizing the building to take place on the Tidal Basin.

The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, AL, has a dramatic monument to Dr. King and his words, as well as a separate monument commemorating those who lost their lives in the struggle for civil rights. Are any aspects of that monument's concept to be incorporated into the DC memorial?

This memorial is distinct in that it is the First memorial honoring a man of peace and will be the only memorial on the Mall not honoring a president or a war. Another interesting point is that The Memorial will also commemorate the contributions of many other people who participated in and gave their life in the civil rights movement. Stone 'niches' will honor those including Medgar Evers and the four children murdered by a bomb blast at a Church in Birmingham. Some of these niches will purposely be left blank to allow for future heroes in the struggle towards equality, peace, and justice.

What else needs to be done for this monument to become a reality? What can people who would like to see this memorial become a reality do to help?

I encourage anyone who has ever benefited from Dr King's actions and words of justice, equality, and peace to learn more about the Memorial. At http://www.buildthedream.org, you can learn more about the memorial, see the design and learn more about Dr. King as well. To date, the Memorial Foundation has been in a quiet phase, raising $32.5 million out of the needed $100 million. Now, we are kicking the campaign into high gear and calling on all citizens to make a contribution by our 2006 fundraising deadline. Any of those interested can donate directly through the website.
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He gave the power to the have nots, then came the shot.

The dream of Dr. King is something which continues to live on in peace and social justice movements, but I also agree with the idea that Dr. King's dreams wouldn't have been complete without the actions of thousands of un-named figures who went down south to fight white oppression. I would agree with a monument to Dr. King, but I think he would have liked the monument to be a testament to the whole movement, rather than just him.

Oh and regarding the assassination, I definately think there was involvement by some level of government, but that is a discussion for another time.

God Bless MLK and may he continue to inspire.

"I Have A Dream"
by Martin Luther King, Jr,




Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Source: Martin Luther King, Jr: The Peaceful Warrior, Pocket Books, NY 1968

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

When Dr. King gave that speech, he was 34 years old.

--PunkDavid

It still gives me chills every time I read or hear it.

I admire the man very much, did great things and spoke about great things although he wasn't very much of a family man.

They had a group of about 8 or 10 kids reading it on the radio this morning and it nearly brought me to tears. I can't imagine how I would have felt if I was there.

--PunkDavid

I've got this huge book full of his letters and speeches, totally worth the purchase although I have no idea where it is right now!

My eyes tear up every time I hear or read that speech. It's surreal to think that took place only 40-ish years ago.

This is one of the only people that comes to mind when the word "hero" is said to me.

But now the question begs:

Has his dream come true? Would he consider the new quiet government sanctioned discrimination against gay people unjust? Would he be appalled by the pimps n hoes 'keepin it reeeeeal' lifestyle? (Can I site Chris Rock's black people vs. ni**ers POV without being murdered?)

No.

I disagree.

So... will the statue invoke the 10 Commandments? Won't see the ACLU around here. I'm all for the monument... but King would probably be against the hypocrisy involved in allowing a religious figure as himself to be honored publicly whilst nativities and other religious idols were removed in some convoluted liberal mea culpa for freedom of speech.

Good point.

Why would the statue invoke the Ten Commandments?

Firstly, just because Dr. King was a pastor, doesn't make him a "religious figure" and it is certainly not his work as a preacher that would be honored, but his work as a civil rights leader. He was just as much a man and a citizen as anyone else, and that status should in no way be diminished by the fact that he was also an ordained minister. Pat Robertson can run for president, Dr. King can have a statue in Washington. I see no conflict

Secondly, over the past two days, I have heard as many opinions of what "Dr. King would think" as I've heard people speak on the subject. I don't think it is appropriate for anyone, regardless of their agenda, to invoke his name in support of their cause, be it gay rights, religious freedom, opposition to gay rights (yes, I heard that one on the radio yesterday), or whatever.

Probably not a good idea to speak about "what Jesus would think" either, for the same reasons.

--PunkDavid