MLK Jr. - April 4, 1968 and visiting the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis two years ago with my family

Nearly two years ago my family and I found ourselves in Memphis for a soccer tournament one of my sons was playing in. During the first day of the tournament we learned we had a multi-hour gap between his two games being played that day so my wife and I took our three children to visit the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.  We were joined by three other team families including his coach.  It was incredibly powerful to visit the museum and the site where Martin Luther King, Jr. was. 

On this day, the 50th anniversary of the assasination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.,  the following tweet by Guillaume Lacroix, the French Consul General to the Midwest in the United States camptured really captured my attention as diplomacy, mutual understanding, Timuel Black (whom I'm honored to have met), Martin Luther Kink Jr., and my former employer The University of Chicago are all brought together:

13 years ago, on my 1st diplomatic tour in the US, I visited Lorraine Motel and @NCRMuseum in Memphis. It means a lot to me when last month I was introduced to Pr. Tim Black who brought Martin Luther King Jr. to @UChicago in 1956 for his first major address in the city #MLK50 pic.twitter.com/SQPIrPnpeR

— 🇫🇷 Guillaume Lacroix (@GJ_Lacroix) April 4, 2018

Below are some photos from the visit my family took to National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel

oh, my son's soccer team made it to the finals in the mid-afternoon and we were up 1-0 with about 10 minutes left in the game and the other team came back to win 1-2 and the winning goal came in the last minute of the game!  My son was the goal keeper....it was a long 7.5 hour long drive back up to Chicago!

Virtual Tour of the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial

Back in April 2010 I posted here on IHEC Blog about supporting the Martin Luther King, Jr. national memorial.  Since that time a virtual tour video has been produced and I thought I would embedded that video here on IHEC Blog today on MLK Day.  Back in November when I was in Washington, DC I was walking around the Mall with my colleague and we stumbled upon the MLK memorial construction site (I took this photo of the construction site sign ~ you can view the construction site webcam here).  My understanding is that the memorial will be dedicated in August 2011.  Once the memorial is open it will be on my itinerary the next time I find myself in Washington, DC. 

Support the Creation of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial

For today’s IHEC Blog post I wanted to highlight the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial. This month marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial will honor his life and contributions to the world through non-violent social change. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial will be the first on the National Mall to recognize a person of color and a man of peace, not a president or a veteran of war. In 1996 Congress authorized the Memorial Foundation to raise funds to establish a national memorial to honor the legacy of Dr. King on the National Mall. The memorial’s very existence signifies that we as a people believe Dr. King and his legacy deserve this esteemed placement in what can be considered America’s “Hall of Fame.”



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A Little Pride On MLK Day

On this MLK holiday I feel that a little Pride (In the Name of Love) and City of Blinding Lights fom U2 at the Inauguration Concert yesterday is appropriate. You can watch U2's contribution here.

Some of you might also enjoy watching their rehersal from the night before. You can watch that footage here.