A ceremony and a candlelight vigil were held at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial to mark the 44th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s death. Dr. King was shot 44 years ago on April 4, 1968 and on Wednesday, it was the first time the anniversary was commemorated at Dr. King’s new namesake memorial along the Tidal Basin in the nation’s capital. A Georgetown professor and author, Michael Eric Dyson, told a cheering and applauding crowd gathered at the memorial that “There would not be a brother in public housing on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now without the death and blood of Martin Luther King Jr. No Obama without King.”
Memorial Foundation President Harry Johnson said, “Today I encourage all of you to look around your homes, your communities, your country and the world and make a practical decision to live a life of peace. Choose to do something today and this week that will further the cause of peace. As Dr. King wrote from his jail cell in Birmingham, ‘The time is always ripe to do what is right.’” President of the National Urban League Mark Morial said, “I hope as you do that today, this evening, is the beginning of what will be an annual time when people will come to this site in this glorious city to remember Dr. Martin Luther King.” The speeches were succeeded by a wreath of flowers placed at the Stone of Hope, the 30-foot-tall statue of Dr. King.
