Disney corp. and George Lucas were involved in the MLK memorial here in dc............oh how telling is that?  Furthermore,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Disney corp. bought Lucasfilm.................which George L. used to make the 6 Star Wars................Disney also bought Marvel comics.................interesting...........star Wars episode 7 is set to be released this December.....................the man producing it.................directing................is the same who made HBO's hit mini series.........Lost...........bad robot indeed..........................oh boy............u people are far too naive...........

In 1996, the United States Congress authorized the Secretary of the Interior to permit Alpha Phi Alpha to establish a memorial on Department of Interior lands in the District of Columbia, giving the fraternity until November 2003 to raise $100 million and break ground. In 1998, Congress authorized the fraternity to establish a foundation—the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation—to manage the memorial's fundraising and design, and approved the building of the memorial on the National Mall. In 1999, the United States Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved the site location for the memorial.

The memorial's design, by ROMA Design Group, a San Francisco-based architecture firm, was selected out of 900 candidates from 52 countries. On December 4, 2000, a marble and bronze plaque was laid by Alpha Phi Alpha to dedicate the site where the memorial was to be built.^[33] Soon thereafter, a full-time fundraising team began the fundraising and promotional campaign for the memorial. A ceremonial groundbreaking for the memorial was held on November 13, 2006, in West Potomac Park.

In August 2008, the foundation's leaders estimated the memorial would take 20 months to complete with a total cost of $120 million USD.^[34] As of December 2008, the foundation had raised approximately $108 million,^[35] including substantial contributions from such donors as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,^[34] The Walt Disney Company Foundation, the National Association of Realtors,^[36] and filmmakerGeorge Lucas. The figure also includes $10 million in matching funds provided by the United States Congress.

In October 2009, the memorial's final project was approved by federal agencies and a building permit was issued.^[37] Construction began in December 2009^[38] and was expected to take 20 months to complete.^[39]The foundation conducted a press tour on December 1, 2010, as the "Stone of Hope" was nearing completion. At that time only $108 million of the $120 million project cost had been raised.^[40]