Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced his plan to fix the Martin Luther King Memorial. It will contain the entire quotation selected by the Council of Historians of the Memorial Foundation:

“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

When the monument was unveiled, the quote had been truncated, without federal OK, to “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” Many argued the abbreviation sounded boastful, opposite what King had intended. His lesson was: Do not be boastful; do not seek to be the drum major getting the credit. But if he was going to be praised, let it be in a just cause.

“It’s the right thing to do, just because it’s a monument that’s so important for our nation, and it’s important that we get it right,” Salazar said.

While members of the memorial foundation had been skeptical that the granite monument could hold so many words and that a fix would be economically feasible, neither concern seems to have been an obstacle. Salazar said the cost – somewhere between $150,000 and $600,000 – is likely to be raised from private sources or paid out of a contingency fund.

National Parks Director Jon Jarvis said it well: “Visitors 100 years from now will be inspired by his own words, and know how Dr. King’s leadership advanced the cause of civil rights for all Americans.”

And all of the other shallow things will not matter.