Gray wants big turnout at King events to back self-rule

Thousands of visitors will descend upon the National Mall in Washington, D.C. later this month to witness the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial -- a moment that has been 25 years in the making.


Event organizers have had to overcome a number of obstacles, such as public criticism, and now one more stands in their way -- a $6 million hurdle.


"It's been an uphill battle all the way, but we are confident that we'll reach our goal," said Harry Johnson, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.


The four-acre site, complete with a 28-foot high granite statue of King, stretches from the Tidal Basin to Independence Avenue, and sits between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. It also comes with a $120 million price tag. So far, organizers have raised $114 million through private and public donations.


To reach its financial goal, the foundation has employed a number of grassroots strategies, such as children raising donations at school-based events.


MLKmemorial.org reported that the Maurice W. Downing Elementary School of Malverne, N.Y., raised $1,978 during its "Reading to Build a Dream" fundraiser. Grade school students and the Parent Advisory Council at George Manierre School in Chicago hosted a dance where they raised more than $600. The African American Organization at Owings Mills High School in Baltimore, Md., hosted a number of events, including a basketball tournament to raise $1,000.


An estimated 250,000 people are expected to visit the Mall for the dedication ceremony and other events.


The District-related events will include D.C. Residents Day on Aug. 23, for which tickets are no longer needed because of the high demand. There is also a march for D.C. statehood on Aug. 27 that starts at Freedom Plaza and proceeds to a spot near the memorial at the Tidal Basin.


Chuck Hicks, chairman of the D.C. Black History Celebration Committee, said that a brochure about the city and its non-state status will be circulated during festivities.


He said the memorial dedication, which is expected to draw many from outside the city, is an appropriate stage for D.C. issues.


“I believe people see that it fits into the whole picture,” said Mr. Hicks, who heads the host committee for dedication events.


Gray spokeswoman Linda Wharton-Boyd said “nobody has objected yet” to trumpeting D.C. issues during the dedication week.


For the second time this month, Mr. Gray referred to a quotation from King in 1965 that indicates he backed full rights for D.C. residents.


King said Congress had been “derelict” in its duty to make freedom a reality for all residents of the District, Mr. Gray said.


He also said celebrities in attendance may be asked to do a 30-second media spot “talking about bringing justice to the District.”


The mayor said he is always surprised by those who believe D.C. residents have the same representation rights as all Americans or that the District is fully funded by the federal government.


Officials are still working on road closures and other logistics, but that information will be available on event-specific websites and on signs across the city, said Millicent W. West, director of D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management.


Said Mr. Gray: “Frankly, given the magnitude and complexity of this, there will be issues that will continue to evolve right up to the last minute.

Obama to speak at King memorial dedication in Washington D.C.

President Obama will speak Aug. 28 at the dedication of the memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall, the White House announced Thursday.


The ceremony will mark the 48th anniversary of King's "I have a dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1963.


The $120 million memorial will feature excerpts from King's sermons and speeches, as well as a sculpture of the civil-rights leader. Located between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, it's the only monument on the Mall that does not commemorate either a president or a war.


In addition, members of the King family, as well as civil rights leaders including U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young and the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, will have roles in the ceremonies, the foundation said.


The $120 million memorial, 14 years in the making, is almost finished. It features a 30-foot, 8-inch granite sculpture of King set amid the cherry trees on four acres on the northwest shore of the Tidal Basin.


The statue depicts King in a business suit with his arms folded, holding a scroll and gazing across the basin.


It is scheduled to be dedicated before a crowd of dignitaries and as many as 250,000 people on the 48th anniversary of the day King delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.


The King memorial is scheduled to open to the public at 11 a.m. Aug. 22. It will be “cloaked” Aug. 26 in preparation for its formal unveiling at 11 a.m. Aug. 28.


“The dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial has been long-awaited, and people from around the world are coming to experience this . . . historic moment,” said Harry E. Johnson Sr., president of the Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. “We are excited to welcome them all.”


The foundation has scheduled five days of festivities leading up to the dedication. The Rev. Al Sharpton, former secretary of state Colin L. Powell, TV broadcaster Tom Brokaw and writer Maya Angelou are among those who will also participate, the foundation said.


An invitation-only dinner, “Honoring Global Leaders for Peace,” will kick off the festivities Aug. 24 at the National Building Museum and honor those who work for global peace and social equality.


A noon luncheon honoring past, present and future civil rights leaders is scheduled for Aug. 25 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. A four-day King expo at the convention center is set to open the same day.


A civil rights concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. Aug. 25 at the convention center, followed by an Aug. 26 luncheon there saluting women in the civil rights movement.

Black War Over Obama

Could it be déjà vu all over again? 1968, that is... something similar. That was the year a sitting president -- Lyndon Johnson -- withdrew from the Democratic race for re-nomination and reelection. Might 2012 see Barack Obama pull an LBJ?
Let's go back for a moment to 1968. The nation was in turmoil. In late January and early February, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, which was a military failure but a psychological triumph and, hence, a propaganda coup. North Vietnam's victory during Tet jolted Americans' confidence in the war's conduct and further emboldened the anti-war movement.
President Johnson -- architect of the Great Society -- was running for his second full term. LBJ went into New Hampshire's Democratic primary in March expecting a lopsided win over underfinanced challenger and self-styled peace candidate Senator Eugene McCarthy. Everybody, including the national media, expected Johnson to win in a walk.
But in a shocker, LBJ lost the primary to McCarthy -- well, no, LBJ didn't lose the contest, he won 50%-40%. What Johnson lost was the expectations game. McCarthy's showing beat expectations. McCarthy did to LBJ in New Hampshire what the communist Vietnamese did to the U.S. through the Tet Offensive: win at perceptions. Shortly thereafter, in a nationally televised address, LBJ withdrew from the presidential race.
So, you say this scenario can't possibly apply to Barack Obama? History certainly doesn't repeat itself exactly. But there are enough similarities between 1968 and 2012 to make an Obama pullout from a reelection bid worth mulling.
Today, the U.S. isn't embroiled in a controversial major war, but the nation's economic mess might well loom bigger than the Vietnam War in people's perceptions.
Like Vietnam, the country's economic fall is seen as having no end in sight... there's "no light at the end of the tunnel," as was the cliché used in the 1960s about the Vietnam War. There's a palpable fear among most Americans that the nation's economic woes are getting worse, not better. Moreover, unlike the Vietnam War, a sputtering economy touches most Americans' lives directly.
Increasingly, there's concern that a second recession may occur next year (let's set aside that the first recession may not have ended). Storm clouds are visible now, as a matter of fact. The stock market is dropping, manufacturing is anemic, and the U.S. was green-lighted to acquire greater debt, thanks to a feeble budget deal between Mr. Obama and Republicans. Consumer confidence continues to plunge and the housing market remains a drag, among other factors. Europe's financial and economic situations deteriorate daily. Bad decisions in Europe are adversely impacting the U.S. economy.


Never mind the slings and arrows of Tea Partiers. The most politically problematic criticism of Obama these days is coming from his base. And there’s no question that there is a deep reservoir of frustration, confusion, and even rage among many in the African-American community for West to tap into. With unemployment hovering near 17 percent for African-Americans (the national average rate is 9 percent) and 11 percent of black homeowners facing imminent foreclosure, African-Americans have ample reason for anxiety about the coming budget cuts that Obama reluctantly signed into law this month. The Congressional Black Caucus chairman called the recent debt deal “a sugar-coated satan sandwich” that will do little to help communities already struggling.


West and his longtime friend, radio host Tavis Smiley, have taken their criticism of Obama to the streets, launching a two-week, 15-city “poverty tour,” aimed at forcing the powers that be to once again focus on the “least among us” and getting the president to “wake up.” Their efforts are increasingly stoking fears among some African-American leaders that West and Smiley could discourage black voters from turning out when the nation’s first African-American president stands for reelection in 2012.


“The negative discussion Dr. West is having can only put more apathy in the hearts of African-Americans and could ultimately cause them to lose more faith in the entire political process,” says the Rev. Otis Moss III, pastor of Obama’s former church in Chicago. “Where will that leave us?”


Lately, Obama’s supporters in the black community are fighting back. As West and Smiley pulled up aboard their “Call to Conscience” bus in Detroit in early August, a crowd of hecklers awaited them outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. “We will not stand silent as Smiley and West criticize the man who brought us health-care reform, one of the greatest accomplishments for the poor in this country’s history,” says a spokesperson for Detroiters for Better Government.


The pushback is not just coming from community organizers. “The poor did horribly under every president before Obama, and yet there wasn’t this level of outcry toward them by these men,” says Michael Eric Dyson, professor of sociology at Georgetown. “That makes folks skeptical about the intent.”


West insists he does not intend to suppress support for Obama’s reelection. “If African-Americans choose to stay home this time and not go to the booth, it would be most regrettable -given the options,” he says. “But that can’t stop my message.”


It’s hard to say how much electoral impact the Princeton professor and the media personality might have. Obama retains overwhelming support among black voters. Still, the numbers have been slipping. He received a staggering 96 percent of the African-American vote in 2008. In a poll done by Black Entertainment Television in March, black approval of Obama had slid to 85 percent. According to a recent Washington Post/CBS poll, the number of African-Americans who believe Obama’s actions have helped the economy has dropped from 77 percent in October to about half that this month.


That’s not the kind of news the president’s reelection team wants to hear heading into a campaign year.


Obama’s team has reached out to West several times and invited him to meet with the president, a White House official says, adding that West has declined. For his part, West says he has received a call from White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, but did not get invited to meet with Obama. “A beer summit won’t help our issues,” West adds, recalling the now-famous meeting the president had with a white police officer and Harvard’s Skip Gates following a tense confrontation between the two in 2009.


Popular talk-radio personality Tom Joyner recently joined the fray, writing an open letter to West suggesting that he and Smiley were motivated more by a desire for attention and book sales than a genuine concern for the plight of the poor. (The two co-host a Public Radio International daily radio show, and Smiley owns a book imprint that publishes most of West’s written works. Smiley’s most recent book, Fail Up, was released in May.)


The Rev. Al Sharpton has also voiced concerns that the pair’s efforts may do more harm than good. “African--Americans are struggling with many issues, and serious discussions need to be had by all,” Sharpton says. “But instead, West has resorted to personal attacks … All that does is distract the attention from where it needs to be. I’ve said that to Cornel and explained the damage being done.”


West has openly admitted being angered by perceived slights from Obama after his election. He says he campaigned nonstop for Obama in 2007, hosting more than 60 events, yet he says he didn’t receive inauguration tickets and lost all access to Obama once he was in office. Smiley fell out of favor with many African-Americans prior to the 2008 election, owing to his unrelenting criticism of Obama. Many think his distaste for the president influenced West’s attitude.


Some of Obama’s staunchest allies are confident a truce is near. Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, who befriended both Barack and Michelle Obama in the 1990s, introduced the couple to West in early 2007. Ogletree sounds determined to resolve what he terms a “disappointing distraction” as soon as possible.


“This is not about two very brilliant men squashing a beef,” says Ogletree of Obama and West. “This is about what’s best for this country … The two men will meet before 2011 is over, and this won’t be allowed to impact the 2012