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| King's legacy corrupted? September, 2007 |
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| It's all about the money. |
Would Martin Luther King be happy with his memorial?
There are plans to build a 100 million dollar MLK memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC.
And there is a controversy about it.
The centerpiece is the King monument called "Stone for Peace". A Chinese sculptor designed it. (That’s right, an artist from Communist China)
Some folks say that King would have approved, noting his plea for all of Humanity to come together in the spirit of Brotherhood and Peace.
Other folks say King would NOT be happy with the project. They say an African-American artist should have been chosen for the job (a $10,000,000 payday).
In my opinion everybody is missing the point. King did not want a massive stone memorial. He wanted the world to recognize its own Humanity. He wanted to eliminate poverty. He wanted end injustice and exploitation. He wanted FREEDOM.
That 100 million dollars would be better spent to end hunger, provide shelter to the homeless and give comfort to the needy. That is his legacy.
For more information go to;
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070825/ap_on_re_us/king_memorial_protest_1
A friend responded to the above essay with a cynical question, “What can the average person do?”
To answer that Question I contacted Mr Gilbert Young, noted African-American artist who is spearheading the oppostion to the current plans for the memorial.
To Mr. Gilbert Young - I agree with you, in part, about furthering black art, and black artisans. It also makes sense to keep the money "home in the family".
I also see the other side as well. King was a man for all people, not just black people. That is why he denounced the Viet Nam war. He saw it as a war against the poor who just happen to be Asian.
But both sides have missed the boat on this. The very idea of a massive statue of King is contrary to the essence of the man.
The money would be better spent feeding the hungry and clothing the poor.
This thing has been politicized and corrupted by the money.
In a few years, newspapers will have ads that shout "MLK Day White Sale!" We will make his memory a vehicle of commerce; his likeness will become a caricature in the popular media. His legacy will become a commodity in a world of greed, power and materialism.
Where is the purity of his dream?
Richard C. James
Mr Young's reply:
Richard,
Thank you for your email. I appreciate you taking time to write.
We don't know each other, so I will introduce myself. I am a 66-year old African American artist. My work is considered "socially conscious". For more than 50 years I've created artwork that glorifies the beauty, the history, and the culture of African American people. My work is sold in galleries and gift shops around the world. My pieces have been in movies, and used as set decorations on television shows. I have been commissioned by organizations worldwide to create commemorative works of art. Procter & Gamble commissioned me to create the Salute to Greatness Award presented annually by the King Center here in Atlanta.
I am old enough to have witnessed first hand prejudice, bigotry and Jim Crow, and I survived it with bitter memories. If you'll remember your history you will hear only truth when I say that African Americans are not native to this country. We are not immigrants. We did not choose to come here. Our ancestors were brought here by force. Our most indelible footprint in history has been that we as a people are the descendents of those who survived the horrendous institution known as the system of American Slavery.
There are those whose names run through the history books, Carver, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman and others. Our country makes an effort to recognize them one month each year. You'll see their accomplishments condensed into a sentence or two, "...one hundred uses for the peanut..."
But that changed nearly 8 years ago. A handful of black men went to Congress to ask permission to build a monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--African American man and descendent of slaves. He was to be immortalized in a national monument in the capitol city of what is known as the most powerful nation on the planet. His monument would stand throughout time on the National Mall among America 's greatest statesmen. African American History would be important to our nation 365 days a year.
But through misguidance and greed and ignorance and apathy, a few folk decided to hand this most important commission, this most incredible honor of sculpting the centerpiece of the monument to an artist whose claim to fame are his statues in China of the mass murderer Mao Tse Tung. A deal was made for the stone for Dr. King's monument to come from China, quarried using slave labor. The workers have no rights and are not even provided proper masks to keep the killing silica dust from their lungs. No granite company in the USA was even allowed to bid on this project before it was outsourced directly to China. How do you think Dr. King would react to knowing a monument to him was being built with slave labor?!
The King Foundation has one answer only to our criticism. They, like you, like to say "King belonged to everyone!" They quote King's "I Have A Dream" speech and say people should be judged by the content of their character.
For your information King's full quote is as follows: "I have a dream my four little children (that's Dexter, Bernice, Martin, and Yolanda) will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged but by the color of their skin but by the content of their character". King was talking about how black people were being treated back then, and are still being treated to this day. He was talking about how he hoped the world would change toward people of color. The word "Negro" is used 14 times in that speech. You are not quite right about the Vietnam War. Dr. King's MAIN objection was that Negro men were being sent into battle in another country to free its citizens from oppression and bondage when Negro men did not have those same freedoms here at home!!!
My favorite quote of King's, and the one that fits this situation perfectly is "Injustice Anywhere Is An Injustice Everywhere." And people from around the world, from every nationality and religion agree with me.
In case you have not heard, Yixin did not win any kind of competition. He is said to have been recommended by a group of his peers. In an article in the Los Angeles Times, he said he was napping in the grass and was approached by the members who offered him the job. Yixin said he had no idea how important the job was until he saw the plan.
Who in their right mind would risk presuming someone is qualified for a job of this importance? You are an editor and publisher. Print this truth: Ed Dwight was the original artist of record for the King monument. Yixin was brought in as a subcontractor to take Dwight’s 12-inch model and make it into a 28 foot granite statue. When Dwight criticized Yixin's work, he was kicked to the curb. There's some news for you to print.
Lest we forget, Dr. King didn't die. He was murdered. He was in Memphis to lead a protest against the way garbage collectors--"Negro" garbage collectors--were being treated.
It's true, Dr. King's hope was that someday black people would have the same opportunities as all other people. He hoped that African Americans would be able to attend the same schools, worship in the same churches, live in the same neighborhoods, get the same jobs for the same pay as others. Yet here is our very first (and last?) opportunity to display our culture and heritage in the first ever monument on our National Mall to an African American man and we're being told we're still not good enough.
If you saw CNN, you know that Lou Dobbs got an estimate for the King Monument and reported that it should not cost more than $15 million. So yes, there is greed and corruption rampant in this project. But the facts are these, we as African American people should be allowed to take the lead in this first opportunity to honor our beloved hero. We as a people DO care that someone who has sculpted memorials to a mass murderer has been given the honor of sculpting Dr. King. WE THE PEOPLE WILL NOT ALLOW someone from a communist country who knows nothing about the Civil Rights Movement, nothing about Dr. King, and nothing about what King stood for to have his named carved into Chinese granite in the first monument to an African American national hero in the history of this planet. It may be OK with you, but it is not OK with us.
King is ours.
Gilbert Young
Lea Winfrey Young
& Hundreds of others....
www.kingisours.com
www.myspace.com/gilbertyoungart
(I did contact the Martin Luther King National Monument Group at the same time I contacted Mr Young. They have not responded. I will post their response in a future issue.
To find out more please visit the official website at:
http://www.mlkmemorial.org
What can the average person do?
Well you can voice your opinion.
It probably won't get you much but there is some satisfaction in knowing that you spoke your piece.
MLK's National Monument smacks of elitism, power and money. It has corrupted King's essence. King was a simple man with simple wants. He wanted TRUTH. He wanted LOVE.
In my opinion, the proposed sculpture speaks of power, determination and resoluteness. It says stubbornness and intractability. It says evaluation, judgment and perhaps condemnation.
The elitist crowd in charge of the thing is way off base.
And while the Chinese sculptor is very talented, his art is sending the wrong message.
Should an African-American do the job? I dunno. Dr. King was a man for the people, all people everywhere. I see both sides as having equal weight.
And as I stated before, neither side "gets it".
I was a young man during the sixties. I was in the United States Air Force at the time of his death. I will never forget that night. I was on duty in a four-story window-less concrete radar bunker, operating a radarscope.
A fellow Airmen (a white guy) said, "He was a Communist!"
I said, “I don't know what he was except a good man that should not have died so young.”
I will remember him as a man willing to lay down his life for my happiness and well-being.
My monument to him is how I live my life. I owe him that much.
| Related links:
Check out Mr. Gilbert Young's website at:
www.kingisours.com
www.myspace.com/gilbertyoungart
And the official King memorial website at: http://www.mlkmemorial.org
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