In October 2011, the oldest black collegiate lettered fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha unveiled a 20-year effort to honor the memory of civil rights icon and fellow fraternity brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - a monument on the National Mall in Washington.
This national monument is the first time a civil society figure and an African-American has been honored in this space, making it a special tribute to a man who made a huge impact on the Civil Rights Movement before his assassination in 1968.
Yet reaching this moment was not an easy task.  At $120 million dollars to erect, the fraternity is still working to raise money to defray its cost.  With just $6 million to go, they are appealing to their international membership of almost one million people to help see it through this deeply significant tribute.
Now one Bahamian musician through the local Iota Epsilon Lambda chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity on New Providence is ensuring The Bahamas makes their contribution through a special song that was fittingly released yesterday on Martin Luther King Jr. day.
The song by Fred Munnings, "Lift Every Voice and Sing", a tribute to Dr. King, will be available for purchase with 50 percent of the proceeds going directly to the fraternity in order to tackle their debt for the National Monument.
"The local chapter thought it would be good to make a contribution and this is our effort to make that contribution - we thought it would be good to give people a tangible object that would remind them of Dr. King's life's work," says Munnings.
Though the song was originally released two years ago in 1992 for the quincentennial Independence celebrations that highlighted the impact Bahamians had on the world, Munnings hopes the updated version can still fill its listeners with inspiration.
"This is an updated version with more of a Junkanoo influence. It's a tribute specific to Dr. Martin Luther King," explains Munnings. "When you hear the song played, at the very beginning you hear his voice saying, 'I have a dream.' And that is the message - one of peace and love for mankind - of the song."
Yet Munnings hopes Bahamians get more out of the song than the satisfaction that they donated for a good cause - at its core the song can remind Bahamians about their important role as a community in the world.
"This is also meant to help our Bahamians and our children especially to understand the rich history of The Bahamas as it relates to America and as it relates to the world," explains Munnings.
"It is amazing how this small country impacted the lives of great people like Dr King. Many great personalities came to this country - Dr. King himself, Adam Clayton Powell and Andrew Young, for example," he points out. "They sought refuge in The Bahamas where they could find tranquility and could regroup while they were fighting their battles in America and around the world."
Indeed, even the song itself, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" - known as the black national anthem - was drafted and set to music by a pair of brothers who were known for their activism in America and yet had Bahamian roots. James Weldon Johnson and his brother J. Rosamond Johnson were the grandchildren of Stephen Dillet, the first person of color in the history of The Bahamas to win an election as the representative for the Town of Nassau in 1833.
To Munnings, the song itself is a tribute to the great things the Bahamian community has done for the world and who, in return, have reaped the benefits from those great heroes.
"These are the contributions we need to be proud of," says Munnings. "We need to celebrate the lives of heroes but also celebrate the contributions of our own people and show that link - that we are contributors to world movements and world developments particularly when it comes to the message of peace and love. That's really the message I wish to project."
He hopes his song can inspire Bahamians to take greater pride in their history and identity - it is only through this, he believes, that the Bahamian community can get itself back on the right track. With the crime rate at an all-time high, sometimes change can be sparked by one small speech or song as history has shown us - yet it is up to the individual, says Munnings, to see that change in themselves.
"We have moved away from respect for ourselves and authority, and so we've moved away from being Bahamians," says Munnings. "We have not been taught the importance of self respect.
"We need to know ourselves before we can respect ourselvess and we haven't taught ourselves about ourselves, our true history, our true wealth, our true contributions to the world. We need to start to understand that it is important for us as a people to celebrate and appreciate what is great about us."

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