A memorial statue for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Augusta could be further underway, and a local nonprofit that has been working towards it is hosting an event Saturday to give the community an opportunity to contribute.
“I had a dream,” said Rev. Larry Fryer, president of the Augusta nonprofit Global Race Unity, Inc., which has been striving to bring a statue honoring Dr. King to Augusta for decades.
“I know that we had a street here after him, but we didn’t have a symbol that made the kind of statement I think the marble King statue would make,” he said.
Fryer said the goal of bringing the King monument to the Garden City was “placed upon him” during a celebration of the civil rights leader at Beulah Grove Baptist Church, in the mid-1990s.
What has since been called the “Building the Dream” project has been gradually in the works since then, the concept garnering support throughout the years from the likes of former sheriff Ronnie Strength to former Augusta commissioner William Fennoy.
The plans for the memorial include an eight-foot bronze sculpture of Dr. King, atop a brick base, which will have a plaque engraved with several quotations from his speeches and sermons.
The memorial will also include a “Unity Garden,” the whole area designed to encourage racial and social solidarity. Engraved plaques featuring pictures of Augusta civil rights figures, such as The Rev. C.S. Hamilton, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, historic preservationist Addie Powell and Episcopal priest the Rev. Lewis Bohler.
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Frye said that in his discussions with city leaders throughout the years about where might the statue be placed, several potential locations were bandied about, such as the Judicial Center on James Brown Boulevard, or at the roundabout where Twiggs Street, James Brown and Wrightsboro Road meet.
Global Race Unity now has its sights set on the intersection of 10th and Broad Streets, the heart of downtown, where Fryer says the symbolic power of the monument will be increased by its visibility.
“Here people will have an opportunity to appreciate it,” said Frye, who prefers to stress “inclusion” more than “diversity.” “It will be a symbol of education, a symbol of justice, a symbol of hope, and particularly and especially of nonviolence, in light of a lot of the crime and all that we’re having now.”
To push further toward its overall $500,000 goal to commission the statue, Global Unity is seeking to raise $300,000 of that at a fundraiser event Saturday afternoon. At $50 a ticket, the event will feature live music, presentations by local leaders, a silent auction and even an appearance by NBA star “Stormin” Norman Nixon, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers and also happens to hail from Fryer’s hometown of Macon, Ga.
Frye said the aim of the fundraiser is to garner further community support to bring a palpable artifact of King’s legacy to Augusta.
“I know that issues that that some may have, and everybody’s not going to support it but that’s not the point,” Fryer said. “What is, is that we bring the dream alive, keep hope alive, keep the dream alive through this symbol, and I think it’s very much needed is very important. And I think that it will be very much appreciated.”
Global Race Unity’s Building the Dream fundraiser will start Saturday at the Modern Solutions Building at 1018 Telfair St., at 4 p.m.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
