Martin Luther King Jr. memorial opens in D.C.

What would MLK think?
We are just days away from the official dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and I’m still fighting intrusive thoughts about what this means.I figure when I get to Washington, D.C., and gaze up at the “Stone of Hope,” which opened to the public on Monday, I will feel like I am walking on holy ground.But right now, I’m wrestling with some nagging questions: Would King really appreciate all this hoopla? Would he really have wanted his likeness to become a graven image on the National Mall?I was 14 years old when King gave his famous “I have a Dream,” speech and mobilized the nation to tear down the walls of legal segregation. The walls did not tumble. But slowly, intolerance gave way to tolerance and tolerance gave way to acceptance in parts of the country that many thought would always be racist strongholds.
Martin Luther King Jr. memorial opens in D.C.:
The first major national memorial dedicated to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. opens to the public in Washington, D.C.In the nation's capital, on the banks of the Tidal Basin, a new memorial opened Monday -- one that many believed might never come.A 30-foot-tall vision of a resolute Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., rising from a block of granite, peering across the peaceful waters toward the neoclassical pillars and dome of the Jefferson Memorial. Behind him, across Independence Avenue, stands the Lincoln Memorial -- the site of the slain civil rights leader's most famous speech 48 years ago.I think it's beautiful -- just as beautiful as the Lincoln or the Jefferson or any other memorials," said Renee Robinson, 49, of Washington, D.C. "It makes you think there's hope out here."Hundreds of thousands are expected for the memorial's formal dedication Sunday.Nineteen-year-old Melissa Frohman of Maryland -- she will be a sophomore at the University of Michigan this fall -- proclaimed it "really cool."It's very important," she said, "and it's definitely been a long time coming.1st visitors to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial express awe at its beauty and meaningWASHINGTON -- When Larry Choates was a young man, growing up in Atlanta -- and, later, during summers working the assembly line for Chrysler in Hamtramck to raise money for school -- he looked at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a hero and a prophet of what might be someday.
On Monday, the 63-year-old Choates -- now a Alexandria, Va., resident -- stood below a granite sculpture of the civil rights leader, situated in a place of honor along an axis between presidents Lincoln and Jefferson's memorials in the nation's capital, surrounded by the words with which King moved the nation.It's wonderful to come out here and see this today," Choates said. "It's been a long time coming. I was thinking this might not come."He was one of the first: The 4-acre, $120-million Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial doesn't get its official dedication until Sunday, the 48th anniversary of his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, which was given on the steps of the neighboring Lincoln Memorial. But the King memorial opened Monday and those in attendance appeared to feel honored -- and maybe a little blessed to miss what could be huge crowds Sunday -- to see it first.I think it's truly magnificent," said Rita Davis, 80, of Maryland. She sat on a granite bench shaded by Japanese cherry trees, a cool summer breeze coming off the Tidal Basin. Above her, the 3-story-high statue of King stood, his arms crossed, his face showing a look, she said, of determination.I see in his determination that we can be whoever we want to be if we have love in our hearts," she said.
The memorial has had its challenges. Not all of the money has yet been raised for its construction, and some critics have railed against the choice of a Chinese artist, Lei Yixin, as the sculptor. At Monday's opening, a group quietly handed out leaflets complaining that the granite for the statue had come from China.But there was no denying the beauty of the setting or that those who came to Washington to see it were glad they did so, coming through two huge stones called "Mountain of Despair" to the statue of King, rising out of "Stone of Hope" -- referring to a phrase King used at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963. (In Detroit, two months earlier, he had called for carving a "tunnel of hope through the mountain of despair.")
King was assassinated in 1968.
This is history," said Dave Sartin, 64, who lives outside Cleveland, but attended Farmington High School and Michigan State University. He and his wife, Ann Sartin, were visiting Washington and were packing their car to return to Ohio when they heard the memorial was opening Monday and decided to stay a few hours longer.I hope this turns into a major tourist attraction -- I think it will," Sartin said.