THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610120316
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 59 lines
America's largest black fraternity had a dream: to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a memorial here. It finally happened.
Before adjourning, Congress passed legislation authorizing construction of a memorial to King on federal land in Washington. After 12 years of struggle and rejection by four previous Congresses, the bill passed unanimously in the House and then slipped through the Senate quietly Oct. 3 as part of the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act. It will be sent to President Clinton in the next few days.
The legislation authorizes Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation's oldest African-American fraternity, to begin a national fund-raising campaign and design competition for the memorial. The fraternity has 700 chapters in 42 states and more than 100,000 members. The project, to cost an estimated $500,000, will be paid for by private contributions.
``We want to keep Dr. King alive for history,'' said George H. Sealey Jr., chairman of the effort by Alpha Phi Alpha, King's fraternity.
Project organizers hope to locate the memorial on the Mall near the Lincoln Memorial, site of King's ``I Have a Dream'' speech in 1963. Final site designation will be made by the Interior Department in consultation with the National Parks and Planning Commission.
``We'd like to launch the design competition on King's birthday, January 15,'' Sealey said. He would not speculate on whether the design would be a statue. ``Let's leave the design wide open for now.''
``It's good for America,'' Jesse L. Jackson said of the memorial. ``King's views have set a frame of reference for nonviolence in the world.'' About the memorial's possible site near the Lincoln Memorial, he said, ``I stood there as a student when he gave that address. . . . So much of my passion has been trying to fulfill his mission.''
The bill had twice passed the Senate but never the House. Rep. Constance A. Morella, R-Md., pushed it through this time, Sealey said.
``We're long overdue in celebrating Dr. King and his vision for America,'' Morella said. It did not pass before mostly because of ``benign neglect - it got bumped by other projects,'' she explained. Clinton has said he will approve the measure.
Sens. John W. Warner, R-Va., and Paul S. Sarbanes, D-Md., cosponsored the provision in the Senate. House support came from cosponsors Rep. Julian C. Dixon, D-Calif., and Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. ILLUSTRATION: The fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha had been asking
Congress for a King memorial for 12 years.
TO HELP
Donations for the King memorial may be sent to Alpha Phi Alpha
Fraternity Inc., P.O. Box 94, 1422 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20005.
In Hampton Roads, community leaders have been raising money for a
King memorial in downtown Norfolk. Donations for that memorial may
be sent to The Joe Jordan Foundation, 512 W. 35th St., Norfolk, Va.
23508, or call 627-9667 by CNB