    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 2006)]
    [Pages 2046-2048]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
    National Memorial

    November 13, 2006

        Thank you all very much. I'm honored to join you today in today's
    ceremony. I'm proud to dedicate this piece of our Nation's Capital to
    the lasting memory of a great man.
        We have gathered in tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, to the ideals
    he held, and to the life he lived. Dr. King showed us that a life of
    conscience and purpose can lift up many souls. And on this ground, a
    monument will rise that preserves his legacy for the ages. Honoring Dr.
    King's legacy requires more than building a monument; it required the
    ongoing commitment of every American. So we will continue to work for
    the day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected and
    the American promise is denied to no one.
        This project has been over a decade in the making, and I thank those
    who have worked to bring about this day. I particularly want to thank my
    predecessor, the man who signed the legislation to create this memorial,
    President Bill Clinton. It sounds like to me they haven't forgotten you
    yet. [Laughter] He's become, as you know, my fourth brother. [Laughter]
        I want to thank Harry Johnson. I appreciate the members of my
    Cabinet who are here. I welcome the Members of Congress. I thank my
    mayor, Tony Williams, who is here. I'm proud to be with the members of
    the King family. I thank the representatives of the community and civil
    rights groups who have joined us. I thank the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
    National Memorial Project Foundation board members and executive
    cabinet. Most of all, thank you all for coming.
        Our Declaration of Independence makes it clear that the human right
    to dignity and equality is not a grant of government. It is the gift
    from the Author of Life. And Martin Luther King considered the
    Declaration one of America's great, as he called it, ``charters of
    freedom.'' He called our Founders' words, ``a promise that all men--yes,
    black men, as well as white men--would be guaranteed the unalienable
    right of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness.''
        Throughout Dr. King's life, he continued to trust in the power of
    those words, even when the practice of America did not live up to their
    promise. When Martin Luther King came to Washington, DC, in the summer
    of 1963, he came to hold this Nation to its own standards and to call
    its citizens to live up to the principles of our founding. He stood not
    far from here, on the steps of

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    the Lincoln Memorial. With thousands gathered around him, Dr. King
    looked out over the American Capital and declared his famous words, ``I
    have a dream.''
        His dream spread a message of hope that echoed from his hometown of
    Sweet Auburn, Georgia, to the pulpit of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to
    the Edmund Pettus Bridge. An assassin's bullet could not shatter the
    dream. Dr. King's message of justice and brotherhood took hold in the
    hearts of men and women across the great land of ours. It continues to
    inspire millions across the world.
        As we break ground, we give Martin Luther King his rightful place
    among the great Americans honored on our National Mall. The King
    Memorial will span a piece of ground between the Jefferson and Lincoln
    Memorials. And by its presence in this place, it will unite the men who
    declared the promise of America and defended the promise of America with
    the man who redeemed the promise of America.
        The memorial will reflect the arc of Dr. King's life, his search for
    justice, and the enduring beauty of his words. The memorial will include
    a wall where visitors can read passages from Dr. King's sermons and
    speeches through a stream of water. And on the banks of the Potomac,
    visitors will walk from the Mountain of Despair to the Stone of Hope,
    where Dr. King's image is rendered.
        Today we see only these open acres, yet we know that when the work
    is done, the King Memorial will be a fitting tribute, powerful and
    hopeful and poetic, like the man it honors. As we break ground, we
    remember the great obstacles that Dr. King overcame and the courage that
    transformed American history. The years of Martin Luther King's life
    were tumultuous, difficult, and an heroic time in the life of our
    country. Across our Nation, African Americans faced daily cruelties and
    pervasive wrongs. In 1955, a woman, Rosa Parks, challenged these wrongs
    on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, when she refused a driver's order to
    give her seat to a white man. Her act of defiance inspired a young
    Baptist minister and changed our Nation forever.
        Within days of Rosa Parks's lonely protest, Dr. King helped organize
    a boycott that captured the attention of our country. When Dr. King's
    leadership--with Dr. King's leadership, the boycott forced America to
    confront the glaring contradiction between the sign on the bus and the
    words of our Declaration of Independence. And on this date, exactly 50
    years ago, the Supreme Court ruled the segregation of public buses
    unconstitutional. And so today we celebrate the courage that won
    victories and helped spark one of the greatest movements for equality
    and freedom in American history.
        Eventually, the civil rights movement would succeed in persuading
    Congress to pass sweeping legislation that represented a new founding
    for our Nation. On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil
    Rights Act at the White House. As of that date, no longer could weary
    travelers be denied a room in a hotel or a table at a restaurant on
    account of their race. And no longer could any American be forced to
    drink from a separate water fountain or sit at the back of the bus just
    because of their race.
        Dr. King liked to say that our Civil Rights Act was written in the
    streets by citizens who marched for the idea that all men are created
    equal. He was right; yet there is no doubting that the law came as it
    did when it did because of the courage and leadership of Martin Luther
    King.
        As we break ground, we recognize our duty to continue the unfinished
    work of American freedom. America has come a long way since Dr. King's
    day, yet our journey to justice is not complete. There are still people
    in our society who hurt; neighborhoods are too poor. There are still
    children who do not get the education they need to fulfill their God-
    given potential. There's still prejudice that holds citizens back. And
    there's still a need for all Americans to hear the words of Dr. King so
    we can hasten the day when his message of hope takes hold in every
    community across our country.
        We go forward with the knowledge that the Creator who wrote the
    desire for liberty in our hearts also gives us the strength and wisdom
    to fulfill it. We go forward with trust that God, who has brought us
    thus far on the way, will give us the strength to finish

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    the journey. And we go forward with the confidence that no matter how
    difficult the challenge, if we remain true to our founding principles,
    America will overcome.
        Dr. King was on this Earth just 39 years, but the ideas that guided
    his work and his life are eternal. Here in this place, we will raise a
    lasting memorial to those eternal truths. So in the presence of his
    family, his coworkers in freedom's cause, and those who carry on his
    legacy today, I'm proud to dedicate this ground on behalf of the
    American people as the site of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial.
        May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:07 a.m. on the National Mall. In his
    remarks, he referred to Harry E. Johnson, Sr., president and chief
    executive officer, Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National
    Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.; and Mayor Anthony A. Williams of
    Washington, DC.