King Monument Criticized Over Artist

Booker Rising first posted about this increased debate two weeks ago. The selection of a Chinese sculptor to carve a three-story monument to the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. is raising questions about how his legacy should be celebrated. A loose-knit but growing group of critics says a black artist - or at least an American - should have been chosen to create the King memorial between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. They have been joined by human rights advocates who say Dr. King would have abhorred the Chinese government's record on religious and civil liberty. "They keep saying King was for everyone. I keep telling people, 'No, King wasn't for everyone. King was for fairness and justice,'" said Gilbert Young, a black painter from Atlanta who has started a Web site called "King Is Ours" and a petition drive to try to change the project. "I believe that black artists have the right to interpret ourselves first," Mr. Young said. "If nobody steps up to the plate to do that, then certainly pass it along to someone else."

The memorial foundation directing the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial seems surprised at the criticism. Ten of the 12 people on the committee that chose the Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, are black. Mr. Lei is working closely on the design with two black sculptors in the U.S., organizers said, and the overall project is being directed by a black-owned architecture firm. The foundation also points to Dr. King's preaching - in a quote that will be incorporated into the monument - that to achieve peace, humans must "transcend race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective." "The bottom line is Dr. King's message that we should judge a person not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character," said Harry Johnson, the foundation's president and chief executive. "In this situation, we're talking about the artistic character."

Designated a master sculptor by the Chinese government, Mr. Lei is one of nine artists in the field who are considered national treasures in China. He has carved monuments to many of the country's national figures, including Mao Zedong, father of communist China. In a phone interview from China, Mr. Lei said he was honored to have been chosen and was aware of the controversy. "I deeply understand because Martin Luther King is a hero for black Americans," he said. But, he added, "Martin Luther King hoped that everyone would be brothers and sisters no matter the color of their skin or their social status, that they would all enjoy the same opportunities and rights....I want my sculpture to show that Martin Luther King fought for democracy."

Ann Lau, a Chinese native who lives in Los Angeles, bristles at the suggestion of democracy in her home country and said Dr. King would never condone China's policies. The granite used for the statue probably will be mined by workers laboring in unsafe and unfair conditions, the human rights activist said. Activists plan to present their online petition to lawmakers in D.C. next month in an effort to force the foundation to reconsider. Although the $100 million project is financed with private funds, they said citizens should have a say because it is being built on public land.

"The whole thing is wrong," Ms. Lau said. "We are going to be permanently connecting Dr. King with someone whose ideology is totally opposed to Dr. King's ideology." But Mr. Johnson, the foundation president, asked why it should hold Mr. Lei accountable for his government. "I think you have to take this away from the government," he said. "We didn't question Lei about his politics or his ideology. We questioned him about whether he could do the work." The King monument is scheduled to open in 2009.

My response: I have this piece by Gilbert Young hanging at home and didn't know that it was by him. I understand his arguments put forth on his "King Is Ours" website. While "What's the big deal about the Chinese sculptor?" was my previous attitude, I am now torn. As one of the project's many individual donors, I am glad that the project went to who the committee determined to have the best design for the lowest cost. Apparently that happened, and the winner was a Chinese dude. Folks cannot point to Rev. King's universality on the one hand, but on the other hand only want black artists to do the project....especially when it hasn't only been black folks who have donated funds for the project. Sure, Dr. King would have been appalled by China's poor human rights record. However, unless you can link this individual Chinese artist to that record, then the comparison is wrong.

Yet reading Mr. Young's piece on his site, he has a point here: "Among those pretending to be in charge are obviously too many who can not see the travesty of justice in having the 'national treasure of China,' Lei Yixin—that’s Communist China—sculpt the center piece of the most important African American monument, in recognition of the most important African American movement in the history of the United States. A movement that never could have taken place in China. I am appalled.....You best believe, there is not ONE national memorial, not ONE monument to a leader or historical event in China, Russia, France, Italy, India, Germany—go ahead and name them all—that has the name of an African American artist engraved in its base. It’s probably not that they don’t like us or appreciate our abilities. It’s that a commission of such importance is a legacy for a country and its countrymen. Why should the King Monument be any different? Here was the opportunity for a national monument to a Black man in Washington D.C., to be created, developed, designed, and executed by the best that African America[n] arts and culture and development has to offer, a testament to all our own achievements as Black people who benefited from Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. There won’t be a second chance to make our first impression. Yet once again our worth is kicked to the curb."