NEWS ROUNDUP: KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR NAMED GLOBAL CULTURAL AMBASSADOR / MLK MEMORIAL ERROR TO BE CORRECTED

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NBA legend and all-time scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was appointed global Cultural Ambassador by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday (January 18).

In his new role, Abdul-Jabbar will travel the world engaging young people and helping to promote diplomacy. He said:

“I am excited and honored to serve my country as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State. I look forward to meeting with young people all over the world and discussing ways in which we can strengthen our understanding of one another through education, through sports, and through greater cultural tolerance.”

Abdul-Jabbar will make his first trip as Cultural Ambassador in just as few days when he heads to Brazil on Sunday for a number of events centering on education.

Following criticism of a misquote on the Martin Luther King Memorial after its unveiling in August, the first African-American memorial on or near the National Mall and the only one not in honor of a former president was dedicated in October and will corrected.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has ordered the National Park Service to rectify the issue within thirty days by changing the inscription from “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness,” to King’s words of “If you want to say I was a drum major, say I was…”

Poet Maya Angelou perhaps served as the memorial’s biggest critic, citing the quote used as the memorial’s inscription “makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit”. Salazar said it’s “important to correct the error because King ‘and his presence on the Mall is a forever presence for the United States of America’”.