Given the King family’s history of charging everybody else for anything having to do with Dr. King, did Dr. King’s children charge the government for rights to Dr. King’s likeness and the use of his speeches?
I should have done my own research. It's been in the works since 2003. The King family charged approximately $730,000 to use MLK's words on the monument, and received approximately $70,000 as a 'management fee' in connection with the monument.
If it were five years after King's death and his widow was trying to feed her children, then I would understand it.
When a nation is honoring King with a statue on the National Mall, I think it's ridiculous.
Given that's it's essentially established (heck, it's established) that King plagiarized portions of his doctoral thesis, if the monument says "Dr." Martin Luther King, Jr., should the King family pay royalties to the copyright holders from the sources King plagiarized to get that doctorate?
No, that's not a serious question. Nor was the King family's demand for money a serious demand.