On Oct. 16, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial was officially dedicated in Washington D.C. Dr. King is the first African-American to be honored with a memorial on the National Mall (though not the first in Washington D.C. itself). Originally scheduled to be unveiled on Aug. 28, the dedication ceremony was postponed due to Hurricane Irene.
Tens of thousands of people were in attendance at the ceremony, including Aretha Franklin and President Barack Obama. The president noted that King “will stand for all time, among monuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it. A black preacher, no official rank or title, somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideas.”
If there ever were a leader who deserved a memorial near our nation’s Capitol, Dr. King certainly stands as that example. However, the memorial has stirred a fair bit of controversy. On the side of the “Stone of Hope” statue, a quote reads, “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”
One would be hard pressed to find a person who disagrees with such a statement. However, this isn’t what King actually said. The real quote derives from a sermon King gave at a church in Atlanta in 1968 (shortly before his death) where he preached, “If you want to say I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all the other shallow things will not matter.”
Ostensibly, the meaning of the quote doesn’t change that much, if not for the omission of King’s use of the word “if.” However, as Roy Peter Clark notes in a CNN op-ed, “in context, the word ‘if’ makes all the difference.”
King’s example was one not only of righteousness and egalitarianism, but also of humility. This quotation does not reveal King in the proper light. Taking this quotation out of context does a disservice to the man to whom so many Americans (as well as citizens the world over) owe so much.
Even if we might agree that King certainly was one of the greatest examples of “a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness,” he would never have audaciously described himself in such a way. Indeed, the role of drum major was one that King’s followers and supporters ascribed to him more than anyone else, and King took it upon himself to accept and live up to that duty.
If we’re going to honor one of the greatest civil rights champions this nation ever produced, the onus is upon us to do it correctly. The quotation need not be changed immediately (especially considering how embarrassing an action like that might be for the sculptors since the dedication was so recent), but the memorial foundation should seriously consider a quotation from King that more accurately reflects his own attitude and character. It’s the least we could do for a hero of monumental proportions.
