"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deserves more than an expensive statue in his honor."

[Better Believe It]

No Way to Honor Dr. King
by Medea Benjamin
August 26, 2011

The ceremonies for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC were kicked off on August 24 at an event billed as Honoring Global Leaders for Peace. But some of those honored are a far cry from King’s beloved community of the poor and oppressed. The tribute to peacemakers, organized by the MLK National Memorial Foundation, was mostly a night applauding warmakers, corporate profiteers and co-opted musicians.

After the line-up of corporate shills came U.S. trade rep Ron Kirk. One wonders how on earth a man who pushes free trade policies that destroy workers’ right and promote a race to the bottom was deemed a peacemaker. King’s commitment to workers — remember his support of the sanitation workers? — was in total opposition to Ron Kirk’s pro-corporate stance.

But the queen bee of the evening was former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She dismissed King’s call that morality to be the guiding light of our international relations as nice, but far from the complex real world where we have enemies we have to confront. This is the same “practical” diplomat whose claim to shame in the eyes of true peacemakers was her support of such stringent sanctions against Iraq that over 500,000 children under 5 were killed. When asked about the morality of this policy on national TV, Albright calmly asserted that “the price was worth it” in the fight against Saddam Hussein.

Ms. Albright was awarded a model-size version of the King Memorial, presented by the controversial Chinese artist himself, Lei Yixin. Uninvited was the group that had spearheaded a campaign pressing the Foundation to choose an African-American artist, and use American granite and American workers. Instead the Foundation tried to save some money with a Chinese artist who used Chinese materials and Chinese workers. The human rights abusing Chinese government, delighted by the association with Dr. King, sweetened the deal with a $25 million donation. And despite written promises that the Foundation would use local stonemasons to assemble the memorial, Chinese laborers were used. The Washington area local of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsworkers union claims the workers were not paid fairly, and their pay was withheld until they returned to China.

Read the full article at:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/26


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MLK Gets Set in Stone, but the Man Is Missing
by Tony Norman
August 26, 2011

To get to the massive figure of MLK, the visitor has to navigate a large rock cut into three called The Mountain of Despair. King's figure is partially embedded in the Stone of Hope at the memorial's center, where it greets visitors on the other side.

With arms crossed in ways more reminiscent of a Ming Dynasty emperor than the nonviolent leader of the civil rights movement, MLK as envisioned by Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin is too formidable a creation for even the pigeons to mess with.

It is an unusual interpretation of MLK. I wish it had more in common with other memorials dotting the Mall and less in common with imperial statues from China.

Martin Luther King Jr. deserves more than an expensive statue in his honor. He deserves to be remembered in context. He should be honored, not revered.
Read the full article at:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11235/1169210-153-0.stm

[Arctic Dave]

1. Agree.

Actions, not monuments, would probably make MLK happy.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Agree

Actions, not monuments, would probably make MLK happy.

[Octafish]

3. Agree.

Dr. King lived for peace and justice.

The story of his memorial serves to illustrate the current state of each in today's the nation and world.

[madrchsod]

4. agree...

it`s a god awful hunk of rock.

[Supersedeas]

5. So much goes on behind the scenes, it really does give us perspective

Who gave final approval of the interpretation?

[originalpckelly]

6. Holy shit what a clusterfuck.

[fishbulb703]

7. Ridiculous it wasn't made by Americans in America.