October 16, 2011 9:29 AM

Obama dedicates MLK Memorial

Remembering MLK

Demonstrators crowd around the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial during a rally and march of thousands in Washington Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Civic leaders, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, rallied for easier access to jobs. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

(AP) 

Last Updated 12:26 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON - "An earthquake and hurricane may have delayed this day," said President Obama at the dedication of a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "but it was a day not to be denied."

Mr. Obama said Dr. King has returned to the National Mall - a symbol of the change he galvanized - at a ceremony attended by thousands.

The president said that King "stirred our conscience" and made the Union "more perfect."

Crowds began at dawn to crowd onto the memorial site, just to the southeast of the steps where King delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. Designed as what King described as a stone of hope hewn from a mountain of despair, the memorial is the first to a black man on the National Mall and its parks, and the first monument to a non-president on the Mall.

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MLK, Jr. Memorial dedication

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"In this place he will stand for all time among monuments of those who fathered this nation and those who defended it," President Obama said, "a black preacher, no official rank or title, who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideas - a man who stirred our conscience and thereby helped make our union more perfect."

The president also said the monument was not for the assassinated leader alone: "The movement of which he was a part depended on an entire generation of leaders. Many are here today, and for their service and their sacrifice we owe them our everlasting gratitude. This is a monument to your collective achievement.

"Some giants of the civil rights movement like Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height, Benjamin Hooks, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, they've been taken from us these past few years. This monument attests to their strength and their courage. And while we miss them dearly, we know they rest in a better place.

"Finally, there are the multitudes of men and women whose names never appear in the history books. Those who marched and those who sang, those who sat in and those who stood firm. Those who organized and those who mobilized - all those men and women who through countless acts of quiet heroism helped bring about changes few thought were even possible ... faceless, anonymous, relentless young people, black and white, [who] have taken our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. To those men and women, those foot soldiers for justice, know that this monument is yours as well."

Mr. Obama (who was 6 when King was assassinated) credits him with helping to pave his way to the White House as the nation's first black president.

Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and poet Nikki Giovanni were among those who honored the legacy of the nation's foremost civil rights leader.

Today's ceremony had been postponed from its original scheduled dat4e by Hurricane Irene.

Some attendees started lining up at 5 a.m. and even earlier Sunday morning. Organizers anticipate as many as 50,000 people will attend. By 9 a.m., thousands of seats were filled, and attendees were greeted with bright sunlight.



© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 97 Comments
by Artur1965 October 19, 2011 8:56 PM EDT
MLK plagiarized his PhD. He was unfaithful to his wife - numerous times. He was sympathetic to communism. And on it goes.

MLK is not the kind of person to hold up to anyone as a role model, he was a disgrace. This statue should be torn down.
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by RangerDan107 October 20, 2011 8:05 AM EDT
So did Thomas Jefferson, and he's still on our nickle. For every thing he allegedly did wrong he did a thousand things right for the people that felt excluded from the American dream. Sadly, the people that feel excluded from that dream now includes many millions of white Americans.
by Voicegig October 19, 2011 12:38 AM EDT
Read obama's speech in full for free - http://www.voicegig.com/view-speech/1711/the-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial-dedication-president-barack-obama/
Reply to this comment
by ainttaken October 17, 2011 9:55 AM EDT
hey jose
are you one of those latinos who hate the blacks or are you some chikenpoop bagger hiding behind a latino name like those southern democrats that became republicans
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by ainttaken October 17, 2011 9:52 AM EDT
by smearing MLK you are smearing his work and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt what a racist you are.
Reply to this comment
by Mortarman29_1SG October 17, 2011 9:59 AM EDT
Are you a racist?
by jose_z1 October 17, 2011 9:23 AM EDT
A few facts about Democrats:

- JFK, a Democrat, wiretapped MLK's phones.
- the Alabama governor who blocked the door to black students - a Democrat
- Topeka Kansas was Democrat controlled during the "Brown V. Board of education" trials
- KKK was founded by democrats.
- Former KKK recruter, Senator Byrd was a Democrat
- A higher percentage of Democrats voted against the Civil Rights Act.
- Montgomery Alabama was controlled by Democrats - when the Bus Boycott took place
- Jim Crow laws were enacted and passed by Democrats
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by ainttaken October 17, 2011 9:51 AM EDT
and all those southern democrats are now republicans thanks to the civil rights act. I guess you haven't watched any election returns since then.

and it wasnt JFK...it was one of your crossdressing republicans JEH

always count on mealy mouth hypocritical republicans to try and revise history
by jose_z1 October 17, 2011 8:06 AM EDT
From the news clips - it looked like every other re-election campaing event... it was more about him than MLK.
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Reply to this comment
by batnapper October 17, 2011 5:58 AM EDT
NOW!!!! THIS IS obama at his BEST..MLK is his Role-model....SPEECH wise....So obama when he leaves the Oval Office (soon)..There is a Church out THERE waiting for him to WHOOP the People up....JUST like MLK did in those days...Mlk was a RACIST rebel-rouser...
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by busterdawggy October 17, 2011 6:15 AM EDT
Without MLK, equal rights for blacks would have come decades later. But maybe you would have liked that.
by gilliamjf October 17, 2011 1:41 AM EDT
I LOVE DC and so will definitely see it.
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by Hutterite October 17, 2011 12:03 AM EDT
I'm proud just to have been alive when people like Dr. King and Kennedy were. Because we do not have them or their like today. We do not have people willing to do anything to move us forward. We've abandoned leadership in favour of the quick fix. It is not working.
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by ainttaken October 16, 2011 11:38 PM EDT
the hypocrisy of using MLK to attack Obama is pure vomit.
These right wing extemists are so arrogant in their self possession
they don't even realize it when they expose themselves
Reply to this comment
by RangerDan107 October 20, 2011 8:13 AM EDT
But Jesus does! They can't claim alegiance to him and be racist too. The history books are full of those in power that tried to fool their people into believing they were one thing while practicing another. Just as republicans do today. In the end though, history exposes them as the hypocrites they are. Don't worry, God will take care of it.
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