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“Kids
for King” kick-off highlights commemoration in nation’s capital WASHINGTON,
D.C.--Scores of America’s educators and young people came from around the
country to the National Mall Tuesday, joining Herman “Skip” Mason Jr.,
president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan to kick off the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National
Memorial Project Foundation’s “Kids for King Initiative.”
The new program was announced upon the occasion of the 46th anniversary of
the famous “March on Washington” in which King delivered his “I Have A Dream
Speech” at the U.S. Capitol.
The initiative is the latest effort of the Washington, D.C.-based foundation
that is spearheading the construction of a national monument to the slain
civil rights leader. Students from across the country are being invited to
write an essay, create a work of art, or produce a short video expressing
what they have learned about King’s ideals of democracy, justice, love and
hope as well as how they plan to carry the legacy forward. Students whose
work is selected will be recognized on a trip to Washington, D.C. next fall.
“Brother Martin Luther King Jr., (a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity)
helped to balance the scales of justice for those who only knew injustice,”
said Mason. “He helped spur action to those who had been static, and he
helped make a fairer educational system for all the children participating in
the ‘Kids for King Initiative.’ ”
The monument construction and the Memorial Project Foundation is the
brainchild of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and so far it has raised $106
million of the $120 million needed to complete project. Mason surprised the
crowd with a $30,000 donation presented on behalf of the Prince Hall
Shriners; another fraternal organization headed by Oliver Washington of
Montgomery, Ala. Washington is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. So far
members of King’s Fraternity have raised more than one million dollars toward
the project.
Also on hand for the commemoration were Harry E. Johnson Sr., president and
CEO of the foundation; Brian W. MacLean, president and COO, The Travelers
Companies, Inc. (which is sponsoring the Kids for King program); Byron V.
Garrett, CEO, The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA); Dennis Van
Roekel, president, the National Education Association (NEA); and WNBA Legend
Kym Hampton.
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Founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has continued to supply
voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color
around the world. The fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the
African-American community's fight for civil rights, through Alpha men such
as Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Andrew
Young, Edward Brooke and Cornel West. The fraternity through its college and
alumni chapters serves the community through nearly a thousand chapters in
the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. For more information, please
visit www.apa1906.net. |
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