On MLK speech anniversary, celebrate God: Column

• The National Park Service is removing a controversial quote on the side of the King Memorial
• When the 14 quotes on the inscription wall were chosen for King's memorial%2C not one mentioned the Inspirer of his faith.
• What a blessing it would be to include a reference to the Father.

In preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, the National Park Service is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove a controversial quote on the side of the King Memorial: "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

Though the inscription was paraphrased from a sermon King delivered in Atlanta, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar endorsed the change after critics denounced it. "The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit," proclaimed poet Maya Angelou.

If King were alive, would he be less concerned about being called a drum major than he'd be by the omission of any reference to God? Curiously, when the 14 quotes on the inscription wall were chosen for King's memorial, not one mentioned the Inspirer of his faith and courage to challenge the nation's racial injustice of his generation. Can you imagine a Lincoln Memorial without such references as, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right"?

What a blessing it would be to include a reference to the Father that motivated not only the King, but the lives of so many men and women He has inspired over the years as well. For me the point is particularly serious, considering the impact the "I Have A Dream" speech had on one of my educational mentors, Chuck Johnston.

As a young teacher in Atlanta's segregated schools, Johnston's original purpose in viewing the 1963 march was not to hear King but instead Peter, Paul, and Mary's performance of Blowin' in the Wind.

Providentially, it would be King's words that would leave the greatest impression on Johnston: "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."

This proposition stirred the heart of the Georgia native, the great-grandson of a former Mississippi slave owner, who began his teaching career in the 1960s and worked hard to bring about racial reconciliation in the schools he led. I witnessed this firsthand when we served together in the late 1990s, as Johnston diversified the administration, faculty and student body. As a matter of fact, when President Obama recently weighed in on the Trayvon Martin verdict and the need to "bolster and reinforce our African-American boys," I couldn't help but think of Johnston's vision and work.

Johnston answered the president's question — "Is there more that we can do to give them the sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them?" — when he assumed the role as executive director of the Atlanta Youth Academy (AYA) in 2001.

Seeking to give underprivileged, inner-city children the opportunity to overcome a difficult upbringing, Johnston shepherded the graduation of nine AYA eighth-grade classes by his retirement in 2012 — none of the students has dropped out of high school, with many matriculating on to college.

Instead of putting God Almighty to the side, Johnston placed Him at the center — embodying St. John's charge, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God."

And given the August anniversary of the March on Washington, rather than modifying the "drum major" quote, I would recommend one from King's powerful 1963 speech that not only touched the life of Johnston but so many to follow:

"I have a dream … when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

For that is a Gospel worth etching not only on a memorial but also the hearts of all God's children today.

John A. Murray is headmaster of Fourth Presbyterian School in Potomac, Md.

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