1 year later, MLK Memorial inscription unchanged

WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial opened to visitors in Washington, the group behind the monument is still working with the National Park Service to change an inscription quoting the civil rights leader.

Harry Johnson, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation, told The Associated Press on Tuesday the work will wait until after the height of the summer tourist season. Then the memorial’s sculptor and stone carver will return in September or October to change the words carved in the central “Stone of Hope.”

The inscription is being changed after critics, including the poet Maya Angelou, complained it didn’t accurately reflect King’s words. It reads: “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”

Critics say King’s full quotation seems more modest.