The TRUTH Salutes.... MLK Memorial & GM Unveiled Brotherhood Table Chat

Special Correspondent: CDW

General Motor's Eric Peterson, corporate partner

The Round Table of Brotherhood completed a five city tour to promote and create excitement, as well as engage the community about the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and him being immortalized in Washington D.C, as the first non-president to have a statue hovering over the halls of Congress and within the shadows of the White House.

The tour recently stopped in Chicago and the momentum was evident with the hundreds of people who lined the walls of the DuSable Museum of African American History, and the hundreds who were turned away due to limited seating how important this General Motors presented love fest meant to each city visited. Eric E. Petersen, U.S. V.P. for G.M. opened the round table discussion as he beamed with joy to present this much needed gathering leading up to the climatic event in D.C. "It was an amazing display of love and admiration for a man (Dr. King), who means so much to so, so many past, present and future," stated Eric.

Roland Martin, help spearhead
 movement to erect monument

And that's where the table discussion faltered. With no blame being placed on anyone in particular, but once again the panel was minus emerging new leaders. The current panelists on the tour are extraordinary individuals, who've plays an important roll in American history like Dr. Juan Andrade, Jr., Carrie Gowans, Jonathan Jackson, Robert Jordan, Cliff Kelley, Arthur Mollenhauer, Pemon Rami and Lisa Nichols. And with moderator, Roland Martin, CNN analyst, and host of Washington Watch on TV One, directing the chat, it moved well and covered several important issues.

MLK Foundation President Harry Johnson

But the discussion touched on the relevance of Dr. King and what his legacy means to future generations. It would have been appropriate to have at least one emerging thought conscious person from the twenty or thirty something generation to discuss and share their insight into King's place in history and how they plan to keep his dream alive within their peer groups.

There where some key issues being shared by the distinguish panel, and a few even defended the youth and their unknowing lack of knowledge about King's incredible and influential body of work. However, when will the powers that be understand that you can't keep speaking for the youth, assuming what they know, don't know or have concerns about, without getting feed back directly from them about their commitment (or lack of) to building or continuing the movement.

Harry Johnson, a Houston lawyer and president of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. has led the mission since 2002, and will lead the unveiling of what is arguably the most famous and talked-about memorial the world has ever seen.

“Here we are 48 years after the March on Washington, Dr. King’s magnificent words and others, we now dedicate for the first time in our history a memorial to a man of peace, a non-president, and a person of color,” Johnson said. Under Johnson’s leadership, the MLK Memorial Foundation has raised $112 million of the $120 million needed to complete the memorial.

On Sunday, August 28, the 48th anniversary after King gave his famous I Have a Dream speech, national networks such as CNN, TV One and BET will broadcast live.

In the end, the MLK Monument is huge and once unveiled; it shall remain a fixture on America and the global world for centuries to come. And with the statute, future community, political and business leaders from the next generation of young people will have something they can pull from and determine their own faith as they climb the mountain in search of the top.