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Anyone mentioned this? MLK, Jr. Memorial


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I shared this with Wolf this am, and he just about choked. "Hang on...The man fights for civil rights, equality, and they have the monument created in China?!"

 

What kills me about the fees...

 

When MLK Jr was alive, the idea of a monument would have been completely out of the question. He (and those that fought and marched with him) changed the landscape of society dramatically...

 

And now his family wants to make a profit from him being honoured?!

 

I think that the monument is awful. A far better job could have been done, with accurate quotes, a better likeness, and gee, include "I have a dream."

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There's been a lot of press about it here. And I went to see it on opening weekend so I've seen it in person.

 

It's not horrible. However, it's not great or an inspiring statue. The artistic choices are a little odd, IMO. And not odd in a make you think way, like with the FDR memorial which was trying to break the mold and make you think. It's supposed to look like he's coming out of the mountain, but the mountain looks like it belongs in theme hotel lobby or something. It's just unattractive, I think.

 

The statue was made in China to save money. The material was also chosen to save money. There are some other issues pointed out by people, including that the statue is stark white in color and the quote on the side is a complete misrepresentation of something he said. He said that people would call him a drum major for justice but that they shouldn't. Then they go and put the drum major bit on the side. HUH? Plus, the look on his face is very stern and angry, which many critics have said is really not representative of him as a whole.

 

We all agreed that it wasn't inspiring at all and we were pretty disappointed. However, we found the diversity of the crowd at the opening more inspiring. We were kind of joking that we've all come so far as a country that we can stand in a group of black, white, Asian, Latino, native born, immigrant, local and tourist folks all discussing whether this is good enough to honor a man we all admired. And *that* is a good thing.

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China thing aside (enough in its own right), my biggest beef about the memorial is the quote they used - which isn't in context at all. MKL would have been mortified with the final version.

 

Memorial quote: "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

 

What MLK really said: "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.”

 

The memorial version gives him an arrogance that he simply did not possess.

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Interesting that MLK memorials keep botching his quotes.

 

The Civil Rights Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a beautiful water-work designed by Maya Lin (who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC), has as it's central feature a "quote" from Dr King:

 

......until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream

 

—Martin Luther King, Jr

 

Now it's true this line was from one of Dr King's speeches, but it was a quote from the bible (Amos 5:24) :lol:

 

Oh well.

 

Bill

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Interesting that MLK memorials keep botching his quotes.

 

The Civil Rights Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a beautiful water-work designed by Maya Lin (who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC), has as it's central feature a "quote" from Dr King:

 

......until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream

 

—Martin Luther King, Jr

 

Now it's true this line was from one of Dr King's speeches, but it was a quote from the bible (Amos 5:24) :lol:

 

Oh well.

 

Bill

 

Also, one of his most famous quotes, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice," is paraphrased from a 19th century Unitarian minister named Theodore Parker.

 

Obviously, King's gift for rhetoric was so great that anything he said in a speech was forevermore his after that. :D

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