Officials in the District are accustomed to asking Congress for full voting rights on behalf of the city's 600,000 residents or for greater control of city finances — and getting no satisfaction.
Edwin L. Fountain says a teenager who walks around the Mall and takes in the ornate, circular memorial to World War II just might wonder whatever happened to World War I.
Almost 50 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave arguably the most powerful American political speech of the 20th century: "I Have a Dream." An impassioned call for racial equality. A soaring vision of social unity. A moral and stylistic tour de force, rife with literary and biblical references, delivered in the urgent, gripping cadence of a Baptist sermon, a 17-minute oratorical masterpiece that remains stirring and resonant to this day.
BET still plans to dedicate Sunday's programming to Martin Luther King, Jr., even though his memorial won't be unveiled that day due to Hurricane Irene.
