Well, it's symbolic because of who it is. Martin Luther King Jr., as far
as I'm concerned, as the president of black people on a national level,
and, see, you know, had legislators said anything about, "Well, you
know, he was not a statesman." I would have been able to deal with that,
because I disagree with that. Martin Luther King is more responsible for
the voter's rights bill than anybody else that I know of, you know. And
I think that he's also responsible . . . you see, it was not Martin
Luther King, it was Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael who were saying
were saying, "Burn, baby, burn," and, you know, really inciting riots.
Not Dr. King. And I think that Dr. King made it as comfortable for
Lester Maddox to be in the capitol four years and not lead blacks up
here to stage demonstrations, because that would not . . . you know, he
was not that kind of person. You know. So I think that . . . that he is
as much responsible for the progress that we have been able to make in
Atlanta and in the state as well, among both black and white citizens. I
mean, black people are talking together and . . . I mean, black and
white people are talking together, they are doing things together and
it's . . . and as a result of that, you can see a lot of progress in a
lot of different areas, not just, you know, voter registration, and not
just voting, but there are other areas as well. And I . . . you know,
because of who he is, he is the one who should be in the capitol. And I
had no . . . I never thought for a minute that when they turned in five
names to the governor and Martin Luther King was one of them, I knew that Martin Luther King would be chosen, you know.
And I knew that the governor would be criticized for it, but the
governor, see . . . one other thing, when people, you know, ask, "Well,
where does the idea come from?" And I say, "Well, you know, I mentioned
it to him." But I didn't have any authority at all to put it up, and had
Jimmy Carter not really wanted to do it, he wouldn't, you know. Because
he really got some nasty letters about it, you know. But I think that he
felt the same way I did. Because we discussed it in detail, about why
should it be Martin Luther King rather than other people, George
Washington Carver, you know. And we discussed it, and I think he felt
the same way. And the governor is the one who made . . . who decided
that it would be Martin Luther King, Lucy Laney, and Henry McNeil
Turner. Don't you think that it's symbolic?