[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14991-14992]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  SUPPORT AND CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BIMINI 
                             PLAQUE PROJECT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 5, 2012

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support 
and congratulations for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Bimini Plaque 
Project.
  The project is an effort to bring attention and awareness to the 
connection Dr. King had with The Bahamas, particularly Bimini. A 
special celebration and ceremony scheduled for

[[Page 14992]]

October 5-7, 2012 will include the unveiling and placement of a 
commemorative plaque and bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 
mangroves where Dr. King is said to have spent peaceful moments with 
boat maker and bone fisherman Captain Ansil Saunders in 1964 and 1968. 
The bust, in the image of Dr. King will be designed and sculpted by 
renowned sculptor Erik Blome. The activities will also incorporate the 
launching of a scholarship award program for deserving Bahamian 
students to attend the historic Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, 
Florida.
  Ansil Saunders, the bonefish man, tells the story of how he took Dr. 
King out into the mangroves of Bimini to think and meditate. Dr. King 
wrote his acceptance speech in the mangroves for the Nobel Peace Prize 
in 1964. He also wrote the notes for his speech to the Sanitation 
Workers in Memphis in those mangroves three days before his death.
  The project is supported by the Frisch family of Jacksonville, 
Florida, one of whom Ben, runs Bahamas Food Services in Nassau. The 
project will be unveiled in Bimini in honor of the 50th anniversary of 
the ``I Have A Dream'' speech delivered at the monument in Washington, 
DC.
  I want to personally thank members of the Martin Luther King Jr. 
Bimini Plaque Project Committee, including Joyce Danford, Executive 
Director, Dr. Richard Danford, Esmin Shakespeare Master, Edward Waters 
College Scholarship Coordinator (who has Bahamian roots); and Nat 
Glover, President of Edward Waters College. I also want to thank 
Bahamian Prime Minister Perry G. Christie and Bahamian Minister of 
Tourism Leonard Stuart for their strong support of the project.
  Bimini, about 40 miles east of Miami, Florida, was also a retreat for 
noted American author and journalist Ernest Hemingway, and American 
politician Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

                          ____________________