The memorial, on a landscaped four-acre site amid Washington’s Tidal Basin cherry trees

Last Sunday, tens of thousands of people from across the country thronged on the Washington Mall to dedicate at last the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial.

The dedication, originally set for Aug. 28, had been delayed seven weeks because of the Aug. 23 earthquake and the Hurricane Irene.

But as President Obama said that “This is a day that would not be denied.”

And we agree.

With walking sticks and wheelchairs, in T-shirts and fur coats, crowds poured in for hours, filling 10,000 folding chairs and spilling across a large field adjacent to the memorial.

It was a fitting tribute to a man who defined a generation and who lead this nation’s civil rights movement; only to be struck down by an assassin’s bullet on April4, 1968, at the age of 39.

From grandparents to babies in strollers, many carrying backpacks, blankets and banners, they camped along Independence Avenue when the viewing area filled.

The memorial, on a landscaped four-acre site amid Washington’s Tidal Basin cherry trees, has been a quarter-century in the making and is the first on the Mall to honor an African-American.

We cannot think of a more fitting tribute and dedication of this memorial to Dr. King.

We are proud that this day has finally arrived.

It is now up to future generations to keep Dr. King’s “dream” alive.

It is time for past generations to bask in what they did in moving this nation towards equality along side Dr. King.

We continue to march.