Martin Luther King, Made In China
I’m a certifiable NPR whore. Morning Edition, Fresh Air, All Things Considered … as soon as I hear the first few notes of these programs’ theme music I get sprung. Yeah, I’m weird. And don’t get me started on Sylvia Poggioli! Every time she speaks I go weak in the knees. I do love my public radio.
One of my other faves is Day to Day. So I tuned in this afternoon and heard this report about how some folks in the black community have their panties in a bunch because a Chinese dude was the finalist chosen to chip and chisel the 30-foot memorial sculpture of Martin Luther King, Jr. planned for the National Mall in D.C.
This will no doubt be the mother of all MLK memorials, and the first on the Mall honoring an African-American. At long last, after decades of planning for this massive erection (get your mind out of the gutter), things are scheduled to get underway next April. Finally.
Too bad about the Chinaman, though, one Lei Yixin. In fact, some of those who have pushed hardest for the memorial to be built are now saying that electing Lei amounts to a “slap in the face.”
I don’t know why. He is a master sculptor, with several examples of his work on display in China’s National Art Gallery. He’s gotta be good, so what’s the problem? Here’s the slap.
“It’s an insult. This is America and, believe me, there’s enough talent in this country that we do not need to go out of the country to bring someone in to do the work,” says Gwen Moore of the California Chapter of the NAACP. “Basically … to have a country that has one of the worst human rights records be in charge of the monument is a slap in the face.”
Sorry, but give me a break. The design committee chose Lei because, well, he was apparently the best man for the job. What does it matter if the selectee is of the Asian persuasion? And why is it a reflection on him that his country just happens to have “one of the worst human rights records?” Good Lord, I’m an American, and just look at us! I’d hate to be automatically dismissed out of hand because I happen to live under Bush’s dictatorial regime. Please.
Ten of twelve on the committee who chose Lei are black. He is also working closely on the design with two black sculptors in the U.S., and the overall project is being directed by a black-owned architectural firm. Plenty of checks and balances, I’d say, and really no need to worry that the guy might at the last minute decide to memorialize Dr. King holding a Chinese take-out box and a pair of chopsticks.
Yet many are in an uproar.
Gripe number 2 is all about aesthetics. Apparently only black should do black. One of the African-American sculpting contenders (loser), criticizes the proposed design because it makes Dr. King look like a giant Chinese Negro. One who, by the way, never stood or dressed that way in real life. Disgraceful.
“Dr. King never stood like that, nor wore clothes like that, nor did he look like that. It is a shameful tragedy,” says Ed Dwight, an African-American sculptor who submitted a model for the project that lost out to Lei’s. “Even a Chinese critic said the design looked like a very big Chinese black man.”
Hmmm. Maybe Dwight didn’t get the job because he didn’t do his homework. Stance? Check. Wardrobe? Check. Chinese black man? Perhaps.
I just find it bizarre that those who should most appreciate the wrongness of racism would be so up-in-arms about having a China guy assigned the task of memorializing the legacy of the one man who without question did the most to advance civil rights. No Chinese allowed? Seems rather racist to me. Our loyalties must transcend race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective - or so said Martin Luther King, Jr.
martin luther king, king memorial, racism, martin luther king memorial, lei yixin, martin luther king sculpture, national mall
December 5th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Doug,
Love the article…I also enjoy Day to Day. You should check out “As It Happens” from the CBC if you enjoy Day to Day’s reporting.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Thanks, Nick … will do. Downloading the podcast now to check it out! I do love the CBC.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:50 am
We need another person like Mr. King who can positively influence our country.
December 7th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
[...] remember Pearl Harbor on this anniversary. Looking for more good reads from 451Press? Try “Martin Luther King, Made in China” from CurrentEventsWatch.com or “Beat the Christmas Shopping Blues” at [...]
December 8th, 2007 at 1:26 am
We do need somebody indeed to put this country back on course. Unfortunately, no one seems to be stepping up to the plate.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:43 am
NPR.
I became a completely devoted convert years ago after returning to my home in Vermont. BBC from 4-5AM, then US news at 5AM. Then off to work, to Barre- the Granite Center of the World, as a full-time US Granite Industry Sculptor. Apprenticed under my cousin, I now extend a continuous 116 yr family employment heritage as granite artisans. Only a handful of us remain- around about a dozen in the entire US. I now operate my own studio in serving Elberton, GA- the Granite Capitol of the World- replacing my uncle who served there as Master Sculptor for 35 yrs. It’s a tough business in itself-even without unfair Free Trade where we compete with workers physically dying to earn less than a dollar an hour.
My name is Clint Button, US Granite Industry Liaison to King Is Ours. While the simplistic interpretation of our protest is viewed as race-based, our true protest is based on the process that denied all Americans a fair opportunity to participate in this project. On Nov 8, 2007, the Barre Granite Association sponsored a press conference featuring King Is Ours. In front of a 24′ tall granite statue, Gilbert Young spoke surrounded by a dozen Master Sculptors and Carvers- including the three who actually produced that 24′ statue, one of which is my cousin that apprenticed me. MLK Memorial Foundation Harry Johnson responded in the press saying of our craft, “It is a lost art, if you will.” After the press conference, all went back to the studios, picked up their tools and went back to carving. It is not a lost art. Denied, maybe- but not lost.
In June 2005, the MLK Foundation received $10 Million Federal to fund the MLK Memorial. In May 2006, they visited Barre, meeting with one sculptor for 15 minutes and one manufacturer for 10 minutes. Both assured the MLK Memorial Foundation they could handle the project. Neither was ever allowed to bid or even see project specifications. Foundation members even refused to tour the manufacturer’s plant, where several of these Masters were and still are carving.
Elberton, GA’s granite industry- in size, several times that of Barre- was never contacted at all, even though it is less than two hours from Dr. King’s home in Atlanta and home office of primary supporter US Congressman John Lewis. Claims by the MLK Memorial Foundation to have “surveyed several quarries” at Stone Mountain on a Sunday afternoon in June 2007 fail to expand that all quarrying operations in the Stone Mountain area ceased in the 1970’s, reverting to Elberton by agreement. There are also no granite quarries in America that operate on Sundays.
In June 2006, the MLK Memorial Foundation spontaneously visited St. Paul, discovered Lei napping on the lawn after completing the only carving he admitted to had ever done completely “on my own.” Lei didn’t understand the scope of the project or of Dr. King until after returning to China, all per his interviews in the LA Times and stone industry publications. But he left St Paul with a check for over $140,000.00.
Due Diligence has not been served. Federal Monies mean an open bidding process. That NEVER Occurred. No US Entity, granite company, artist, artisan or other ever was allowed a viable chance to participate. Equality has been realized. We have all been denied. Color did not matter.
The design RFP was equally flawed, with the winners, ROMA Group, naming as consultant to their design concept Dr. Clayborne Carson. Carson served with the MLK Memorial Foundation to assist with origination of the RFP and also judged the entries. Hardly a blind competition. When ROMA and subsidary Devereaux & Purnell prepared to sue over nonpayment for services, they were contractually paid in full and expected to remain under gag about settlement. McKissack & McKissack were then awarded contract without competition.
As a result, Dr. King will be transfigured into stone, quarried and carved under near slave labor conditions, in a design that closely mimics a statue Lei produced of Mao Tse Dong. Reportedly, per edict of MLK Memorial Foundation Executive Architect Dr. Ed Jackson, all references to race- including the word “Negro”- are to be expunged from Dr. King’s writings when inscribed on the Memorial. Future generations can then reflect upon contemporary but untrue claims of Dr. King’s Communist Party activity, see images of very similar statues of King and Mao and read words inscribed in stone that vary from his published writings. That is a dangerous corruption of history.
Now joined by the US Granite Industry, King Is Ours is protesting a process and expressing a desire for African American Artistic leadership on the project, just as it seems appropriate to others to have such leadership in various aspects of the project.
I now have questions about my unbiased support of NPR report of information. Following the Nov 8 Barre Press Conference, we were accompanied for several hours by media representantives, including a VPR reporter who heard and recorded all of these industry-based concerns about lack of bid opportunity even though Federal money was involved. With us, he retraced the footspteps of the MLK Foundation visitors and spoke to the same industry experts. But many such facts were never mentioned in the resulting VPR/NPR segment.
Subsequent NPR coverage has also avoided such significant truth, focusing only on a racist spin prioritized by some mainstream media outlets. Personally, I was pursued, invited and then uninvited from a CNN broadcast panel discussion in Aug 07, being told verbatim, “This is an African American Issue. You will not be needed for tonight’s show.” While it appears that some donors to the King Memorial are also supporters of Public Broadcasting, I would hope that does not impact the integrity of reporting all of the facts. An omission isn’t an untruth, but it can certainly skew audience perception and interpretation. The MLK Memorial Foundation leadership uses this tactic deftly to their advantage.
King Is Ours is fighting for all Americans, for the accurate interpretation and representation of our shared history. Whether it’s a person of color who remembers the way it used to be or portfolio-proven American workers struggling to keep artisan crafts alive now, it’s about the process of being American. There is nothing wrong with being Chinese. But Washington, DC is not yet in China.
Join us. See what so many other Americans have said when they signed the petition at http://www. kingisours. com supporting repatriation.
Help us tell the truth. That is all we are doing.
Thank you for posting these comments.
Respectfully,
Clint Button, kingisours.com- US Granite Industry Liaison
December 14th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Clint - Thanks for your comment, and for sharing your and your fellow artisans concerns in detail. Odd indeed that NPR, of all media outlets, would have been so one-sided in their coverage. CNN, et al, don’t necessarily surprise me, but I expect more from NPR.
December 14th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
CNN, AP and others have a markedly different agenda. I was surprised with the VPR result (broadcast Nov 8, 9), but marked it us to a individual discrepancy. But the recent interviews from NPR, producing the segments for further coverage, led to the same result.
This is a hugely complicated issue. But it equally important to all of us. Much more information is available, including a full, verifiable timeline and very good 2003 article I will be glad to forward if you are willing to post it on your blog. Gilbert and I have fought off so many racist accusations, it becomes sadly a normal part of the effort. but many convert when they hear more than the simple view. If each demand the truth, it will work. We are winning, but have not gotten to the podium yet.
We need everyone’s help, from one signature to physical participation. Contact King Is Ours Executive Director Gilbert Young directly at or myself at . Thanks again. Merry Christmas.
King Is Ours.
Clint Button
December 14th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
I would be interested in reading the 2003 article if you’d like to forward a link, I’d be glad to bring up the issue again. Thanks, Clint.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Monumental Errors. Can the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Campaign Be Saved? by Thulani Davis. June 11 - 17, 2003
December 15th, 2007 at 12:39 am
December 15th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
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[...] to remember Pearl Harbor on this anniversary. Looking for more good reads from 451Press? Try “Martin Luther King, Made in China� from CurrentEventsWatch.com or “Beat the Christmas Shopping Blues� at LifeTipsDaily.com. [...]