Reactions to story from The Washington Post

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  http://rjwaldmann.blogspot.com/2008/05/monumental-idiocy-in-...
  76 days ago in Robert's Stochastic thoughts · Authority: 40

  Monumental Idiocy in Washington Michael E. Ruane writes A powerful federal arts commission is urging that the sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. proposed for a memorial on the Tidal Basin be reworked because it is too "confrontational" and
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  Onward Comrades!

  http://coldfury.com/index.php/?p=9371
  76 days ago in Cold Fury · Authority: 201

  I dont see any disconnect here, do you? This is very consistent. A powerful federal arts commission is urging that the sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. proposed for a memorial on the Tidal Basin be reworked because it is too confrontational and
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  They Cant Help It

  http://dailypundit.com/?p=30474
  76 days ago in Daily Pundit · Authority: 388

  Its in their blood. When a committee of leftards gets together to design a memorial to MLK, is it any wonder that their subject ends up resembling decades of communist and fascist statuary? (Via NRO)
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  I think their problem is that the statue is taller than Lincoln's

  http://www.prometheus6.org/node/20849
  76 days ago in Prometheus 6 | All respect and no restraint · Authority: 195

  The centerpiece is to be a 2 1/2 -story sculpture of the civil rights leader carved in a giant chunk of granite. Called the Stone of Hope, it would depict King, standing with his arms folded, looming from the stone. At 28 feet tall, it would be eight
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  May is National Preservation Month

  http://blog.historians.org/news/524/may-is-national-preserva...
  65 days ago in American Historical Association Blog · Authority: 73

  The National Trust for Historic Preservation has declared May 2008 as the fourth annual National Preservation Month, and has created a number of programs in celebration.
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  MLK Memorial

  http://christophercolaninno.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/mlk-mem...
  66 days ago in Christopher Colaninno · Authority: 15

  MLK Memorial 18May08 The US Fine Arts Commission doesn’t like the design for the new Martin Luther King memorial sculpture because it looks confrontational and reminiscent of totalitarian imagery. I’m not sure I agree that’s it’s a “problem”, but I can certainly see why the U.S. Fine Arts commission thinks that it looks too confrontational/communist. It is the second time in recent months that the memorial to the slain civil rights leader has come under fire. Last year, critics complained after a Chinese sculptor known for his monumental works of figures such as Mao Zedong was selected to create King and other elements of the memorial in China. The $100 million memorial, which is being built largely with private donations by the Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, is planned for a crescent-shaped four-acre site among Washington’s famed cherry trees on the northwest shore of the basin. Construction is expected to start this year and end next year. The US Fine Arts Commission is like the neighborhood homeowner association, nothing gets built without their say so. I’ll forgo arguing that there’s nothing especially wrong with a statue of MLK that stylistically looks communist, and instead pose two different issues I see with US Fine Arts Commission’s actions. 1) If making memorials reminiscent of totalitarian imagery is really unacceptable then they shouldn’t have accepted the designs for the World War II Memorial that opened 2004. It very much looks like something Kim Jong-il would have built. 2) It sure seems asking them to redesign the statue now is a bit too late. As you can see in the link above they’ve already curved out most of the statue. Given the difficulty they’ve had funding the MLK memorial, it’s really weak to make them redesign the statue and spend millions extra dollars. If I had been involved in selecting the design for MLK statue, I wouldn’t have approved it for the same reasons the US Fine Art Commission doesn’t like it now. But now that’s so close to being completed really doesn’t seem fair force them to make changes. Filed under: Politics, Washington D.C. |
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  Martin Luther King Jr.: Uniquely Black, Uniquely American--And his Statue Made in China

  http://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/2008/05/martin-l...
  72 days ago in We are respectable negroes · Authority: 38

  This story has been under the radar for a quick minute. Apparently, the planned statue in homage to Dr. King is being redesigned because it is, according to critics, "too confrontational." As we commented previously, this sentiment isn't a surprise given America's desire to white-wash Dr. King and his message. More disturbing, at least to this respectable negro and patriotic American, is that the United States has apparently lost so much of its manufacturing capacity, as well as skilled tradespeople and artisans, that we have to import the statues of our national heroes from (of all places) China. The future does indeed belong to the land of the golden dragon doesn't it? The redesign of King's statue raises another question. What is an appropriate monument to the late Dr. King? How should he be honored? The proposed statue in its ostentatiousness reminds me of a man forced to brag about his accomplishments rather than let the greatness of his work speak for him. In short: the Dr. King statue is Borat wearing a swimsuit tacky--I just coined that phrase, do you like it? To my eye, King's statue is a more spectacular version of small penis syndrome--where men overcompensate for their endowments by bragging about how big and mammoth they are (no woman could accommodate me, I don't know what to do!); wearing padded boxer briefs to create the illusion of that extra inch (or three); buying large SUV's, Hummers, or Suburbans (hey woman, look here! I have such a big and powerful car that I must be a "big" and "powerful man"); or buying a Corvette aka "the penis car" to compensate for their limited gifts: Family Guy - "Penis Car" | Funny Jokes at JibJab Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a triumphant figure who represents the best of what American society, with all of it complexities and contradictions, can offer. King's accomplishments, in his short life before being stolen from all of us, are so towering that a monument to his greatness (and his unfinished work) need only be a simple one, because King's contributions need not be exaggerated or embellished. Your thoughts?
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  That’s a pretty big statue

  http://themoderatevoice.com/general/19622/thats-a-pretty-big...
  71 days ago in The Moderate Voice - Domestic and international news analysis, irreverent comments, original reporting, and popular culture features from across the political spectrum. · Authority: 1,347

  That’s a pretty big statue May 14th, 2008 by ANGELA WINTERS So the Federal Arts Commission has decided that the new MLK memorial is too “confrontational.” When I first read this and saw the image, I was ready to call SUSPECT, thinking this was about that “beware of the scary black man” foolishness because the arms-crossed gesture combined with a serious expression is generally code for “I’m a little pissed off.” I kind of like it, but the Christian in me is NOT a big fan of statues of individual people this huge. Looks too much like idol worship. I guess its no different than the Lincoln or Jefferson Memorial(my favorite), so if you like those, this might be your kind of thing. But would he want something this big? However, back on topic, the commission’s problem is not that he looks angry, but he looks like a totalitarian dictator because it is done in a style similar to other images of dictators in history such as China, Russia or the most recent one we tore down in Iraq. Maybe its the crossing of the arms or the open leg stance. Either way, they want it torn down and done again. What do you think? Unhappy With “Confrontational” Image, U.S. Panel Wants King Statue Reworked - washingtonpost.com BTW - Wouldn’t it be awesome if this thing was finished next year and a black president gave the unveiling/induction speech? Yes or yes? Ahhh…symbolism over substance…how delightfully American. Category: As Yet Unassigned |
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  Controversy at MLK Memorial

  http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/05/contorver...
  72 days ago in Concurring Opinions · Authority: 629

  The process of building a new memorial in Washington, DC always creates controversy. The forthcoming Martin Luther King Jr., National Memorial is no exception. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which has veto power over the design, recently announced its objections to a model of the mammoth statue planned as a centerpiece of the site. The statue, at 28 feet intended to be significantly taller than Lincoln's at his memorial, depicts Dr. King standing with his arms folded and a very serious expression on his face (see the model here). In a breathtakingly terrible choice of words, the Commission worried that the statute so envisioned is too "confrontational in character." This objection comes on top of earlier protests at the choice of a Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin -- some saying that a black person or at least an American should design the statue; others criticizing the use of Chinese granite instead of the good ol' American kind, and others objecting that some of Lei's earlier work celebrates Mao Zedong. The new criticism claims to be aesthetic rather than political, but the two are so fundamentally intertwined in this setting that art cannot distinguish itself from politics. Take, for instance, the following from a Washington Post blogger: Leaf through hundreds of photos of [King] and you see him standing before oceans of Americans, one arm raised to the sky, his mouth open in a call to unity. He reaches forward, rallying, cajoling, explaining. Or he is leaning in, head to head with Lyndon Johnson, and you can almost hear King, the gentle voice, the rock-hard logic. ... Nowhere but in this proposed arms-crossed sculpture is King seen in the arrogant stance of a dictator, clad in a boxy suit, with an impassive, unapproachable mien, looking more like an East Bloc Politburo member than an inspirational, transformational preacher who won a war armed with nothing but truth and words. Such controversy is par for the course. Several large memorials have been built on the National Mall in the last 15 years, including very large and prominent commemorations of the Korean War(1995), World War II (2004), and the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt (1997). WIkipedia quotes a writer in the Philadelphia Inquirer attacking the "pompous style" of the World War II Memorial as the sort "also favored by Hitler and Mussolini." Disability activists agitated for a statue of FDR in which his wheelchair was visible (such a statue was later added on to the memorial). Most famous of all, remember the howls that greeted Maya Lin's visionary design for the Vietnam Wall. And of course many have -- quite correctly, in my view -- criticized all these memorials for their giant scale and cacophony of cliche elements (Flags! Fountains! Inscribed quotes! Stone pillars representing something! Niches for reflection!). In this nifty illustrated essay for Slate, Witold Rybczynski tours the DC memorials and highlights, among other things, how didactic modern memorials have become, a feature surely shared by the plan for the King Memorial, as illustrated here. Yet eventually all these were built; all are visited. More fundamentally, I wonder if this process of arguing over the nature of the memorial is itself part of its legacy. The debate captures, in miniature, the process of a culture communally shaping the narrative of its past. And in that vein, the thoughtful and diverse comments to the blog post quoted above are fascinating. For the most part, these are the kinds of comments I wish you saw more often on blogs. The very first commenter agrees with the aesthetic objection to the statue but doesn't care if it's "Made in China," then someone a few down says "outsourcing of the memorial to China is appalling" but likes the design, and so on for screen after screen. This thing is a Rorschach blot! And in the end, isn't that a pretty good model for a memorial?
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  MLK Memorial

  http://ilivetoshop.typepad.com/vibrant_life/2008/05/mlk-memo...
  75 days ago in Vibrant Life · No authority yet

  The Washington Post story and photos have black blog-sphere discussing the current controversy surrounding Dr. MLK Jr's proposed statute design by Chinese master sculptor Lei Yixin. The commission which by law must approve the final design describes it as too confrontational. This term has generated an initial reaction of criticism from blacks suggesting that only a less threatening image of Dr. King will satisfy a white audience. I really do not agree with that theory. First, sorry call me a protectionist, but I do have a problem with the idea that once again we are "outsourcing" something to China. Recognizing that Dr. King's mission changed not only our nation but thus the world - he certainly championed American workers of all stripes but could we not pay homage to him through the talent of an American artist? Some say that perspective is bigoted - not intended so sorry if that is the take away. Also, in fairness, keeping in mind that our best known statue is likely the Statute of Liberty - a gift from France - I have no idea who designed the other monuments in Washington. Regarding the design - sorry but it does not capture the spirit of Dr. King's legacy. Some are tripping up over the commission's term "confrontational" with the man emerging from stone and folded arms. That is not what bothers me - humility is not a sign of weakness in the message of the Gospel - bearing in mind Dr. King never sat aside that he was a minister of God first and foremost. This image does not reflect humility. When I think of the greatness of Dr. King's message it was that he helped to generate so much change through peaceful - intelligent - challenge for change. Certainly he had no problem with standing on the frontline and spending many nights in jail. But it was not done with an air of arrogance, which this image projects. We each take away from common history that which speaks to us most. For some it was his community organizing skills, for many it was his oratory skills and ability to move a nation beyond their fears to their humanity, for me it was his ability to combine those forces. He crafted a movement that inspired the working men and women to risk their lives, while through his intellect he moved the white community beyond their fears and comfort with the status quo. He spoke with such authenticity to both audiences that he was able to help them find common ground. Dare I say, and you knew I would have to mention our friend, that is part of the appeal of the presumptive Democratic party nominee, Senator Barack Obama. On a side note, I must say that the image of his features are a good representation. To return to the discussion regarding the Chinese designer some have suggested the image reflects a persona more common with totalitarian ideals and even reminds them of Lenin. Perhaps the designer is influenced, though he is in exile for speaking out about his country's policies I believe, by the political climate of his homeland. But I believe Dr. King's character was attacked enough in that area in life, and I would not want a design selected that would reopen that debate. Sadly I cannot draw a tree...LOL...no I really can't. So it is not my place to lecture someone with great talent but to advise the decision makers to remember this is a man who looms very large today even among those of us too young to know Dr. King beyond videos and written speeches. They will never satisfy everyone, but I think a great deal of people can agree - the current design is not the right direction.

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