Dr. King Belongs To Us All

I recently read an article concerning the Martin Luther King National Monument movement and some internal bickering in regards to the artist chosen to sculpt the monument. The artist that was chosen was Lei Yixin, a Chinese sculptor.

Politicizing national monuments is nothing new and dates back to the Statute of Liberty, but in this case I think it has greater significance because of whom the monument depicts and what he stood for. Dr. King dedicated his life to the pursuit of character over color and so it seems odd that there are those who would want to use color as the criteria for the artist.

Politics have dogged the King memorial since it was first suggested after his death in 1968. And trailing behind this latest squabble, like tin cans tied to a cat’s tail, are lofty concerns about cultural memory and racial sensitivities, as well as the mundane realities of turf battles, egos and flawed communication.[1]

There have been trouble-spots throughout this whole process; from the King family wanting to be paid to use the likeness of Dr. King for the monument to the argument that anyone but a Black artist could not capture the essence of Dr. King. It just goes to show you how far we have come as a nation only to see how far we as a people have not. This monument will be the first national monument dedicated to a Black man on the mall. The monument will be between the Lincoln and Jefferson Monuments and will be a testimony to the history of Blacks in helping to shape America.

The problem I have with the whole debate is this, Dr. King was more than just a Black icon, he was an international symbol of struggle against not only racial intolerance, but human intolerance. At the time of his death he was in the process of speaking out against the war against the Vietnamese and other third world countries. For a group of Black people to claim that only one group owns the legacy of Dr. King is ridiculous.

It’s funny how the only time Black people want to own the legacy of Dr. King is on his birthday and when money is involved. I look at the state of Black America and I wonder where are the values and beliefs that Dr. King espoused in our communities? Young black men are killing each other in ever increasing numbers, our communities are still under assault both internally and externally, and we continue to fall behind in education, but these people are worried about a statue.

I agree it would be cool to have a Black artists do the monument, but based on the design chosen that wasn’t possible. So, let’s just redesign the monument to accommodate the black artists that were not chosen. The only problem with that is unless all of them are chosen there will still be controversy and jealousy. It’s too bad our art community could not rise above petty jealousy and celebrate that at least we are going to have a national monument. But I guess that isn’t the important thing, the important thing is that we keep it black.

It should be noted that the majority of people on the monument selection committee are black, so this isn’t some group of white bureaucrats dictating the project. I recently went to one of the disgruntled artist’s website, a Mr. Gilbert Young and I was appalled at what I read.

For those whose only belief is that King belonged to the world—that his work, his words, and his stance was international in scope—you need only take a few moments to review history. Watch the films and look at the photographs that show what was going on in African America that prompted King to become the icon he became. The images of “White Only” signs on drinking fountains and movie houses; scores of people marching and protesting bigotry, prejudice, Jim Crow, and segregation. Look again at the black men hanging from trees lit by Klan fires. See the young black men and women and children being hosed in their faces, bitten by dogs and dragged through the streets by police. Watch the men carrying out the bodies of those four little girls.[2]

For him to invoke the memory of the fallen of the civil rights movement to attempt to shame black folks into supporting him, I found tasteless and disgusting. It is one thing to disagree with a decision, but to use the historical symbols of racial intolerance to advocate racial intolerance for personal gain is unconscionable. Dr. King does belong to the world Mr. Young, because his message was universal in nature, it may have been spoken for the black man at the time, but it was applicable to all men. Just as the words of all great men transcend their time and circumstances, so did Dr. King’s. You want to cling to Dr. King as if he were some racial ragdoll that you can bandy around and pull out when it is convenient or profitable. I wish you had argued on the merits of the issue and not resorted to the emotionalism of language to incite and divide. I don’t think Dr. King would be approving of those tactics, do you?

As for how the foundation ended up with Mr. Lei, Harry Johnson Sr., the memorial foundation’s chief executive, said the overall design dictated that Dr. King’s image be carved from stone, so the selection panel searched for someone who had experience working with granite on a monumental scale. No African-American sculptor fit that requirement, he said. “Lei was chosen to work on this not because of his political beliefs, not because of his ideology,” he said, “but because he could do the work.”

He added that two African-American artists, Jon Lockard and Ed Hamilton, are collaborating with Mr. Lei to ensure the accuracy of King’s image. Construction is supposed to begin this year and be completed in 2009.[3]

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/arts/design/24statue.html
[2] http://www.kingisours.com/
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/arts/design/24statue.html