Postponement of Sunday’s planned dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. is disappointing, but altogether proper given the likelihood, that heavy rains and high winds from Hurricane would strike the capital at that time. Cancellation of the ceremony, however, can not diminish the importance of the man or the appropriateness of placing a monument to the civil rights leader in such a prominent place.
Sunday certainly would have been an appropriate time to dedicate the sculpture. It is the 48th anniversary of his “I Have a Dream Speech.” Still, organizers of the event were right to cancel the event that was expected to draw about 250,000 people to the memorial located on a 4-acre waterfront in the capital. There’s no need to risk the safety of even a small number of people when extremely dangerous weather is forecast.
The dedication likely will be rescheduled in September or October, officials say. A permit for a new date must be obtained from the National Park Service, but that is not expected to be a problem.
While the dedication and events surrounding it were the culmination of the years-long process to design and erect the monument, the postponement does not mean it will not be accessible to the public. Indeed, it has been open to view since Monday and, weather permitting, it will be open today.
The memorial is the first major monument to a black American on the Mall. Its centerpiece is a 30-foot sculpture of King looking to the horizon and seemingly emerging from a stone carved from a mountain. The memorial also includes a 450-foot long wall of granite that is inscribed with 14 excerpts from King’s sermons and public addresses. The memorial landscaping includes American elm trees, Yoshino cherry trees, liriope plants, English yew, jasmine and sumac.