King family 'demand fee for memorial campaign'

Efforts to build a national memorial honouring Martin Luther King Jr have stalled because the American civil rights leader’s family wants money to use his name and likeness in the marketing campaign.

‘‘They’re asking for something in regards to a licensing fee,’’ said Harry Johnson, president of the memorial foundation. ‘‘We’re just trying to walk a fine, thin line.’’

Last week, Johnson called representatives of the King family to ask about a dollar figure, but he says they have not returned his call.

In a statement released yesterday by the Atlanta-based King Centre for Nonviolent Social Change, the family denied seeking a licence fee.

However, the release acknowledges discussions for a ‘‘permissions agreement’’ which could have a fee attached. The family says any money would go back to the King Centre’s charitable efforts.

‘‘The King family and King Centre have always supported and continues to support the building of the King DC Memorial,’’ the statement says.

‘‘We are moving forward with the intention of creating a relationship that benefits both organisations with charitable purposes.’’

Congress approved a King memorial in June 1998 and set aside land on the National Mall, which already is home to memorials for Franklin D Roosevelt and Vietnam and Korean War veterans, and is the future home to a sprawling Second World War memorial.

Congress authorised King’s fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, to lead the project and gave it until November 2003 to raise $100m (£66mStg) and break ground.

Johnson, who is president of the fraternity, is confident the deadline will be met, though the dispute apparently has hampered fund raising.

General Motors contributed dlrs 750,000 (£500,000) and had suggested a much larger donation would follow. GM spokesman Bill Noack says those plans now are on hold.

‘‘There have been internal discussions of a larger gift, but there has been no commitment,’’ Noack said. ‘‘The King family will obviously need to embrace this project for it to go forward.’’

King’s family is fiercely protective of his name but has also been criticised for commercialising it.

The family received an undisclosed fee from French telecommunications giant Alcatel, which used King’s image for a TV ad.

Cingular Wireless also paid to use part of King’s ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech for an ad campaign featuring quotes from figures ranging from Winston Churchill to cartoon character Homer Simpson.

And the sale of some of King’s papers to the Library of Congress has been stalled following demands from the King family for $20m (£13m). The library seldom pays for materials and never has paid that much.

Emory University historian David Garrow, a King family critic, said he isn’t surprised the family wants money for the memorial.

‘‘It just seems par for the course,’’ said Garrow, who won the Pulitzer Prize for the his biography, Bearing The Cross: Martin Luther King Jr And The Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

‘‘They see something that looks like it’s going to produce a certain amount of money, and they’re saying, ‘Where’s my cut?’,’’ he said.

The National Capital Planning Commission has granted permission to put the King memorial on the shore of Washington’s Tidal Basin, between and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.