MLK MEMORIAL STALLED BY FAMILY'S DEMANDS FOR MONEY

Family's demands stall MLK memorial
Representatives seeking fee to use name, image in marketing campaign

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10/25/2001

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Efforts to build a national memorial honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have stalled because the civil rights leader's family wants money to use his name and likeness in the marketing campaign.

"They're asking for something in regards to a licensing fee," said Harry Johnson, president of the memorial foundation. "We're just trying to walk a fine, thin line."

Last week, Mr. Johnson called family representatives to ask about a dollar figure, but he says they haven't returned his call. Officials at the Atlanta-based King Center for Nonviolent Social Change couldn't be reached for comment.

Congress approved a King memorial in 1998 and set aside land on the National Mall, which is home to memorials for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vietnam and Korean War veterans and will soon be the site of a World War II memorial.

Congress authorized King's fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, to lead the project and gave it until November 2003 to raise $100 million and break ground.

Mr. Johnson, who is president of the fraternity, is confident the deadline will be met, though the licensing fee dispute apparently has hampered fund raising.

General Motors Corp. contributed $750,000 and had suggested a much larger donation would follow. GM spokesman Bill Noack says those plans now are on hold.

"There have been internal discussions of a larger gift, but there has been no commitment," Mr. Noack said. "The King family will obviously need to embrace this project for it to go forward."

King's family is fiercely protective of his name but also has been criticized for commercializing it.

The family received an undisclosed fee from French telecommunications giant Alcatel, which used King's image for a television ad. Cingular Wireless also paid to use part of the "I Have a Dream" speech in advertising.

The memorial as designed features walls, trees, and a stone structure that will include King's profile and his "promissory note" passage, which calls for freedom and fairness for black Americans.