E-mail a friendHarry Johnson
original airdate April 4, 2007
Harry Johnson is President of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, a nonprofit established by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Dr. King was a member of the fraternity, and Johnson is its immediate past national president. A native of St. Louis, MO, Johnson is a partner in a Houston, TX law firm and a board member of National Big Brothers and Big Sisters. He's a graduate of Xavier University and Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
Harry Johnson
Tavis: Harry Johnson is the president and CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, which upon completion next year will be the first memorial on the national mall honoring a person of color. In November, I was honored to serve as master of ceremonies for the groundbreaking event in Washington, an event that featured Civil Rights pioneers, corporate leaders, and Presidents Bush and Clinton.
More than $20 million is needed now to complete the MLK Memorial, with donations in any amount being accepted at their website BuildTheDream.organization. Harry Johnson joins us tonight from Houston. Mr. Johnson, nice to have you back on this program, sir.
Harry Johnson: I'm glad to be with you, Tavis, thank you so much for having me.
Tavis: April fourth is today, of course, and this is the day, as I said earlier, 39 years ago that I believe the greatest American we've ever produced was cut down on that balcony in Memphis. Talk to me about what you think his enduring legacy is as we talk a little bit later about this legacy we're trying to build on the mall.
Johnson: His enduring legacy is simply this, Tavis: this man changed the way the world thinks about how to protest, how to carry out nonviolence, but more than that about human rights. We're pleased to have had him as our leader in this country. His legacy will live long after we're gone, and that's why we built this memorial in the mall.
Tavis: Tell me how important it is for you, as a member of that grand fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha - I happen not to be an Alpha, as you well know, but we ain't gonna talk about that tonight. (Laughter) Good Kappa man that I am. But tell me what it means for you, though, to be a member of this grand fraternity that King, of course, was also a member of, Alpha Phi Alpha, to be leading the way for America to honor him with this memorial on the mall.
Alpha Phi Alpha has for years - for over 100 years - has done things to make sure that we continue a legacy of leadership. So when the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha came up with the idea to build this memorial, it went through several other general presidents besides myself, up to the current general president, Darryl Matthews, to ensure that Alpha Phi Alpha men continued to lead the charge on this memorial.
But they were wise enough to create this foundation so that everybody could have a part and a role in building this memorial that's not just an alpha project - it's a project for the world.
Tavis: What do you make of the fact that King, as I've mentioned already a couple times, would be the first person of color duly honored in this way on the national mall? With a memorial, that is.
Johnson: Tavis, it's just huge. I think even President Bush and Clinton both spoke to that in November. But it's not just a person of color. He's gonna be the first minister - a man of peace - on the mall. Every other memorial there is to a president or to a war hero. So to have a man of peace and a man of color - but more than that, once built, this mall will now become diversified so that when my children, your children, grandchildren go there, they see a mall that is reflective of America.
Tavis: How do you respond to folk who say - and I've heard this come, quite frankly, Harry, not to name names - from some people who worked very closely with Dr. King, folk who were in his inner circle who have some concerns about the massive amount of money that you all have, to your credit, raised and continue to raise to do this memorial - and juxtaposing that against what this man stood for.
To your point, he is the first person on the mall who was a man of peace, but at the same time, he was a man of - he was frugal. He was a man of meager means. As we all know, every dime he made, he gave away. How do you juxtapose the kind of money we're raising here for a memorial with who King really was?
Johnson: Well, when we first started off, nobody had any idea this memorial was going to cost $100 million. It wasn't until we got - had the winning competition from the International Design Committee to come up and say, "Okay, here's your solution; here's how much it costs." I think it's justified by the fact that where it's gonna sit.
You couldn't put a million-dollar statue of King where this is gonna sit. You said it yourself, between two presidents, we're gonna finally have a King. And because it's gonna be the first memorial to a man of peace, a man of color, I think it's justified because it's gonna compliment the other memorials in the area.
Tavis: Talk to me, then, about the fundraising effort, since we're on that, and where you are. I hinted at this a moment ago, but tell me on this commemoration of his assassination, where you are with regard to completing this project by next year, your deadline date.
Johnson: How pleased we are that right now, we're about $78 million. We picked up about four million dollars since the beginning of the year. We picked up a couple of corporations, so we're pleased that the fundraising continues to go well. We still need help. We wanna get to a $100 million goal; that's not gonna stop us from laying out a contract for the contractor to start building this. But we wanna get the rest of the money, and because we know it can happen with the help of your listeners and other Americans, and people internationally.
Tavis: Is there a particular area - a two-part question here - a particular area of fundraising where you've been surprised to find money that you didn't necessarily think was going to come, certainly in those amounts from that particular group? And is there a particular group that you want and have been challenging to step up where the completion of this project is concerned?
Johnson: Certainly. Corporate America has stepped up to the plate in the beginning. You know when I was on your show the very first time, we may have had $15 or $20 million in the coffers. But corporate America has stepped up, and they stepped up big during groundbreaking. Not surprised that everyday people send in five dollars, $10, $20 every month for the project.
I am a little surprised that some of our well-known folks, who could probably do more have not really stepped up to the plate. And that's not to say that they won't. Andy Young said to me once, "A 'no' is never a 'no.' The right person has not asked, and the time just wasn't right." So I feel confident that other big-name people will step up to the plate soon.
Tavis: To your point, what do you make of the fact that that - let me rephrase. We live in an era where so many people, as we get farther and farther away from his time here on Earth and in America - people don't really feel - at least they don't think they feel the impact of what he did, and consequently trying to get them to give money to a King Memorial, they don't see the direct impact on their lives and the importance of writing a big check. To those persons, you say what?
Johnson: I say to those persons that who should build this memorial? Should it be the U.S. government? Should it be the everyday American? It should be everyone who ever benefited from anything Dr. King said or did. That includes all of us, whether we're millionaires, billionaires, or just regular folk. We benefited from Dr. King, and if they think they have not, they're wrong. They need to re-read some history and think again on what Dr. King really meant to us and indeed, the world.
Tavis: All right, so as I mentioned earlier, last year I was honored to be master of ceremonies for the groundbreaking ceremony there. As I mentioned to you before, I have a shovel in my office that we dug some dirt with some day to build the groundbreaking. So every time somebody walks into my office, they ask me, amongst all these other nice furnishings, what is that shovel doing in the corner of your office?
And I take great pride in telling them my involvement in this. I was honored to do that. That said, tell me right quick, in 30 seconds, what the timeline is as we go through next year, trying to get this thing done?
Johnson: Right now, we are getting ready to let out a contract to a contractor, so we invite listeners to call our office if they have an interest in wanting to do work with us. The timeline is for us to break ground here - really break ground with a steam shovel within the next two months, and then have this thing completed by late 2008.
Tavis: All right. Harry Johnson, president and CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, set to begin - to be under construction, as he said, next year, and have another celebration when this thing goes up on the mall. The first person of color, the only person of peace on that mall. Harry Johnson, nice to have you here.
Johnson: Thank you, Tavis, appreciate you.
Tavis: Thanks for your work.
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