Editorial: Save black patriots' memorial

March 8, 2000

Those who undertook the task of developing a memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C., to the 5,000 black soldiers and sailors, some of them slaves, who fought in the Revolutionary War, have done a poor job of it.The Black Revolutionary War Patriots Foundation is 15 years into the project to raise $8 million for a 90-foot-long, curving, bronze bas relief, to be located between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

So far it has collected $3.6 million, and has spent all but $1 million of it, a mere $800,000 on the development itself.The dilly-dallying and ineptness could cost it the site and the project itself, as Congress this month considers whether projects should meet certain criteria before they are granted extensions of time to get their job done.

The foundation had no events this year tied to Black History Month, and nothing planned for the next few months. It may well be that only a handful of black Americans are even aware of the project's existence.

Those associated with the foundation, though apparently well-meaning, seem to lack the drive, the fund-raising savvy, and the ability, or the imagination, to sell its goals to Americans of any hue.

There are plenty of wealthy black entrepreneurs these days who could contribute themselves and help raise funds. Bill Cosby could do it alone. Children could send in their quarters and dollars as they have for other monuments; and the nation's black churches could put this project together in an instant.

There is no reason this monument should be a strictly black venture.

All Americans benefited from former slave Crispus Attucks' death in Boston. He was the first patriot to die in the 1770 Boston Massacre that preceded the Revolutionary War. This is not just black people's history. It belongs to all Americans, especially those whose ancestors, like Attucks, scrambled from the bottom rungs of society to become part of this great country by dying for it.

But someone must step in to re-excite corporate America, some of whose members have long since lost interest; and someone with shaming clout needs to get San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to keep his promise to raise $1 million. For this to happen, the foundation must show it has the moxie to move successfully and with vigor to achieve its goals.

Past performance is not encouraging.

The $8 million amount is not huge. A committed and connected board could do it in a year, expeditiously but with considerable fanfare.