The men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Inc. are visionaries. In 1986, six members of the Iota Upsilon Lambda (IUL) Chapter in Silver Spring, Md.; brothers Alfred Bailey, Oscar Little, Eddie Madison, Harold Navy, the late Hanley Norment and George Sealey — heeded the call to launch a project to posthumously honor their brother, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with a memorial.
The devoted change agents spent countless hours preparing the documentation necessary for review and approval by the U.S. Congress and Senate. In 1998, the resolution passed in the House and the Senate. Receiving national media attention, the chapter members laid a plaque to mark the area where the memorial will stand — on a Tidal Basin adjacent to the Lincoln, Jefferson and Roosevelt memorials.
The dream to erect this monument is significant for many reasons but first and foremost, Dr. King will be the first non-president and African American to have a memorial on the National Mall. The fraternal organization is celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary, a year filled with service and philanthropy, with the unveiling of the Martin Luther King National Memorial on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, which is also the 48th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
CNN analyst Roland Martin has been tapped by General Motors and Chevrolet, who in partnership with the MLK Memorial Foundation are responsible for bringing the MLK Memorial Project to fruition, to be their ambassador for the Table of Brotherhood Tour, which makes stops in four cities: Atlanta (Aug. 6), Memphis (Aug. 13), Chicago (Aug. 20) and Washington, D.C. (Aug. 27). It’s no coincidence that he and Dr. King share the name, Martin, and are fraternity brothers.
Martin, who earns a high mark in deportment, carries this torch with modesty and care. He offers during the first event of the four-tour in Atlanta at Morehouse College, “I have seen it. I was the first journalist to walk the site. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal memorial. The Table of Brotherhood is all about the concept of Dr. King who had his people of diverse backgrounds sitting around the table having civil, important and critical conversations. That is what this concept is all about.”
For more information, visit Chevrolet.com/MLK.
