[NTA] FW: Courtland Milloy: Having a black sculptor for King would have been nice
- From: "Ericsson, Aprille J. (GSFC-5050)" <aprille.j.ericsson@xxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipients:;
- Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:56:53 -0500
The interactive display is awesome.
From: AMY T BILLINGSLEY [mailto:amytate@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 11:14 AM
Subject: Courtland Milloy: Having a black sculptor for King would have been nice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/having-a-black-sculptor-for-king-would-have-been-nice/2011/08/23/gIQAFjWBaJ_story.html
Full Coverage: The Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial<http://www.washingtonpost.com/2010/07/08/gIQAE1t96I_page.html>
[cid:322E1C3C-AEF4-4698-A79A-EC6CF4E3293B]
Courtland
Milloy<http://www.washingtonpost.com/courtland-milloy/2011/02/01/ABE89TE_page.html>
Local Columnist
Having a black sculptor for King would have been nice
By Courtland
Milloy<http://www.washingtonpost.com/courtland-milloy/2011/02/01/ABE89TE_page.html>,
Published: August 23
Let’s face it: There really is something peculiar about having an artist from
communist China sculpt the Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial<http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/specialreports/MLKmemorial>
statue. And, yes, it would have been fantastic had an African American sculptor
been chosen instead.
I do not believe that such sentiments are racist, as some have charged. They
are deeply rooted in America’s racial past and ought not be so easily dismissed.
inShare<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/having-a-black-sculptor-for-king-would-have-been-nice/2011/08/23/gIQAFjWBaJ_story.html>
Graphic
[cid:691DE23F-F0C8-433A-818A-98EF951666B3]<http://www.washingtonpost.com/exploring-the-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial/2011/08/22/gIQAteLoVJ_graphic.html>
[cid:43281449-CD46-4161-ADCA-299A9AC6EC8A]<http://www.washingtonpost.com/exploring-the-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial/2011/08/22/gIQAteLoVJ_graphic.html>
Explore the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial with this interactive photo display.
Gallery
[cid:B239DDAB-55C7-493B-8C80-7F6512D3E68B]<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/scenes-before-a-memorials-debut/2011/08/21/gIQAXIqcVJ_gallery.html>
Workers at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial cleaned and prepared the new
monument for its official dedication, which will take place on Aug. 28. Tens of
thousands of people are expected to attend the event, and President Obama is
scheduled to speak at the ceremony on the
Mall.<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/scenes-before-a-memorials-debut/2011/08/21/gIQAXIqcVJ_gallery.html>
More On This Topic
· Multimedia: Memories of
MLK<http://www.washingtonpost.com/memories-of-mlk/2011/08/23/gIQAM7DqZJ_graphic.html>
· Photos: Unveiling the MLK
Memorial<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/scenes-before-a-memorials-debut/2011/08/21/gIQAXIqcVJ_gallery.html>
· Tell us King’s legacy in six
words<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-buzz/post/martin-luther-king-jrs-legacy-tell-us-in-six-words-or-less/2011/08/18/gIQAZePnYJ_blog.html>
· For those who were there, March on Washington memories still
linger<http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/august-1963-march-created-lasting-memories/2011/07/27/gIQAOuhBaJ_story.html>
View all Items in this
Story<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/having-a-black-sculptor-for-king-would-have-been-nice/2011/08/23/gIQAFjWBaJ_story.html>
Much has been made of how King’s memorial, which opened to the
public<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/at-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial-a-joyous-crowd/2011/08/22/gIQAY3naXJ_story.html>Monday,
is situated between Lincoln’s and Jefferson’s, as if they are inviting us into
a three-way conversation about the nation’s ongoing struggle for racial justice
and equality. Ingenious, to be sure.
Overlooked, however, is the White House to the north and the U.S. Capitol to
the east — which were built using extensive black slave labor.
Last year in June, congressional leaders unveiled two bronze plaques
commemorating the estimated 400 to 600 slaves from Maryland, Virginia and the
District who helped build the Capitol.
“We’ve come here this afternoon to tell the rest of the story. To acknowledge
the profound indignity that the slaves who helped clear this land and lay these
stones must have suffered in building this great monument to freedom,” Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during that ceremony.
Must have suffered, indeed.
Surely, having a black sculptor of a black civil rights icon — working on
ground once toiled by black slaves, on the National Mall, designed and surveyed
with the help of a black mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker — would
have added to the King memorial’s symbolic power.
So, yes, it stings when, centuries later, creators of the King memorial say
they couldn’t find a qualified black sculptor.
“Not only did we need an artist, we needed someone with the means and methods
of putting those large stones together,” Ed Jackson Jr., executive architect of
the
project<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2011/01/13/ST2011011304472.html>,
told me recently. “We don’t do this in America. We don’t handle stones of this
size.”
Who gets the job? A Chinese national with an apparent preference for the heroic
and authoritarian.
The sculpture is based on a 1966 photograph of King taken in his office in
Atlanta, standing at his desk, with a picture of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi
on a wall in the background. In it, King has soft eyes and an open face that
conveys the blessed assurance of a man who walks by faith.
Lei
Yixin<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021003852.html>
has turned those eyes into something of a steely squint.
The result is a stern colossus, dressed no less in a style of suit similar to
ones found on many statues of Stalin. In America’s militaristic culture, King’s
take-no-prisoners personae will surely resonate — especially among many in the
black middle class, which places a premium on order and discipline. King’s
expression reminds me of a parent or teacher about to administer some tough
love with a belt.
Nostalgia notwithstanding, the fact remains that Lei hails from a country that
oppresses ethnic minorities, exploits its workers, and jails human-rights
activists and the attorneys who try to defend them. In their day, King and
civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall would likely have been taken by the Red
Guard and never heard from again.
Now, I recognize that without the inspired leadership of the Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity, there would be no King Memorial to speak of. And those who say now
ought to be a time for celebration and not complaining have a point.
The distinguished fraternity of Alpha men, who count both King and Marshall
among its members, certainly deserve all of the accolades they are sure to
receive in the coming days — especially Jackson, foundation president Harry E.
Johnson<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/man-in-charge-of-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial-readies-for-the-spotlight/2011/08/12/gIQAqZBjSJ_story.html>
and the late Adrian Wallace, who as president of the organization in 2000
green-lighted the King project with an admonition to its members: “Failure is
not an option.”
But I also recall the words of a Chinese artisan who worked on the memorial
with Lei. Asked why he was so delighted with being chosen for the job, the man
told The Washington Post that he was in it for “national honor” and wanted to
“bring glory to the Chinese people.”
It just would have been kinda nice to hear an African American sculptor say
something like that about this country.
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- » [NTA] FW: Courtland Milloy: Having a black sculptor for King would have been nice - Ericsson, Aprille J. (GSFC-5050)
