Miami Alphas helped make MLK history

This event, staged at Potomac  Park  adjacent to the  memorial  site, was televised live on TV One, C-Span and other media outlets. Thousands of people witnessed the  presenters and  entertainers who provided spoken word/speeches and musical interpretation on the sense of pride and achievement felt in building the only national memorial  for  an African  American. Various speakers  expressed  that  the  continued quest for the “Beloved  Community” is far from being achieved, and that civil  rights,  along with equal economic prosperity for all, is a goal that still must be reached for America.

The event was emceed by Alpha Brother Roland Martin and Gwen Ifill. Speakers included Brother Julian Bond, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, former U.S. Ambassador Brother Andrew  Young, King’s children the Rev. Bernice King and Brother  Martin Luther King III, King’s older sister Christine King  Farris, Brother Rev. Joseph Lowery, Cecily Tyson with Amanda Stenberg, Nikki Giovanni, Diahann

Carrol, Tommy  Hilfiger, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Rev. Al  Sharpton, Marian Wright Edelman, Dan Akerson, Rabbi  Israel Dresner, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Gary Cowger and  former CBS news  anchor Dan Rather. Performances were  given by Mary Mary, Miri Ben Ari & POEM-CEES, the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Holiday and Stevie Wonder.

The keynote address by the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, was held at the actual MLK memorial site and televised to the park. Prior to his speech the president and his family were given a private  tour of the memorial site by Brother Harry Johnson Sr., the King family and Brother Herman “Skip” Mason Jr., the general president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Johnson, a past general president of the  fraternity and  currently president and CEO of the MLK National  Memorial Foundation, led the national fundraising  campaign to develop this multimillion-dollar project.

The memorial, designed by Devroaux and Purnell/ROMA Group JVP along with the sculptural works of Lei Yixin, uses stone, water and trees to underscore the themes of King’s messages of democracy, justice and hope.

The memorial cost an estimated $120 million to build and  maintain. Congress, which authorized the Alphas to establish the monument in 1996, granted four acres of land between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials to the project. The Beta Beta Lambda Alpha Foundation of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. raised approximately $100,000 locally, and members of the Miami Chapter arranged for additional $1 million donations by the ExxonMobil  and  John S. and James L. Knight foundations.

Trever Wade, president of Beta Beta Lambda Chapter in  Miami, along with past chapter presidents Ola Aluko, Alpha’s southern regional MLK  chairman, and Gregory Gay, Miami’s Alpha MLK chairman, led the  local campaign, challenging companies, corporations and foundations to make contributions to the memorial project.

To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s Beta Beta Lambda/Alpha Foundation, call 305-358-1040, email betabetalambda@bellsouth.net or mail donations to the Beta Beta Lambda/Alpha Foundation c/o Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc – Beta Beta Lambda Chapter, P.O. Box 12447, Miami, Fl 33101.