On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, JR gave a speech that would electrify millions and solidify his place in history for the march towards freedom and equality in America, both white and black. Commonly known as his "I Have a Dream speech". King's legacy was forever cemented.
In the years since in the quest to honor Dr. King we have done many things but this latest one defies logic and would have King rolling over in his grave.
The new statue in honor of Dr. King was approved and partially paid for ($10 million federal dollars) under a black President, Barrack Obama, made of white granite, and by a Chinese sculptor resulting in an uncanny likeness to an Asian version of Dr. King from a communist Country.
"The decision had been made, even before Lei was chosen as the artist, to use a certain white granite, unique to China, for the statue," Podas-Larson said. "He carved it in China, and it was then taken apart into 158 pieces, like a jigsaw, and transported on a ship and brought to the National Mall, where it was reassembled." (http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2011/08/25/31085/chinese_sculptor_of_national_malls_martin_luther_king_monument_was_discovered_in_st_paul)
Lei brought his own team of Chinese stone workers.
Does this not fly in the face of exactly what Dr. King was fighting for? Freedom and equality in America?
How can we have a Country in shambles pay a Chinese sculptor in a communist country to come up with this version of Dr. King AND bring his own team of Chinese workers over here to help assemble it?
Of course lest we forget MLK III says it is a good job. Why wouldn't he?
His family was paid $800,000 for permission to use the likeness of Dr. King for this project.
Yes Dr. King would be rolling over in his grave over this as well I am sure. As a public figure in the fight for equality to pay his family for his likeness would be a further embarrassment to Dr. King himself in my opinion.
From the most famous speech ever given by Dr. King:
"....... When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds.""
I have to ask, have we given the African Americans a bad check for this likeness of its most famous leader?
I say yes we have.
Dr. King stood for the embodiment of being American. An America that was free for all. An America that would stand united tall and proud. That was his dream. The American dream.
I can't help but think that he would be insulted when the most powerful and influential African American of our time in Barrack Obama would have the gall to help fund this work to a communist, or to have it made from a white stone, or even further to bear little resemblance to the Dr. King that most would recognize.
As an American I feel insulted. We have spent almost 50 years trying to honor Dr. King in an attempt to placate the African American community, yes I said placate, in the same way we have always done in this regard. It is almost like the old saying "throw the dog a bone."
It seems as if as long as it appears we are doing something that everything is ok in America.
It is not.
We continue all these years later allowing, yes I said allowing, a few in the African American community to benefit and live the American dream, yet in many ways we continue refusing to allow real progress for All of us regardless of race to have the opportunity to.
There are some within the African American community who continue to play the race card for their own benefit just ask local Councilwoman Judy Green. She will now and forever be used as an "example" of what is wrong with black people who get power. Nothing could be further from the truth as the mindset of Green is not a white or black thing. It is a money thing.
There are just as many in the white community who continue using this placating mindset to convince others that they truly care as well. Yet we will continue putting dressing on the problems and continue ignoring the basic reason the problems exist today. Poverty, lack of inclusion, and basically everything King fought for is alive today though not as public as it once was. We continue using race as a dividing tool, behind closed doors mostly, but there nonetheless.
Placation is not inclusive folks. That is the reality. The perception of this farcical endeavor belies what many of us are fighting for today. The legacy of Dr. King and freedom. This is not a white or black problem, it is an American problem.
When we have a President that argues he is trying to help us in job creation then allows $10 million of our tax money be spent in a communist country for an American job that is alarming.
Does everything America has have to come from China? It certainly appears so.
Is there anyone qualified in America to do the honor of this statue of Dr. King? Of course there is. One that comes to mind is local sculptor Ed Hamilton right here in Louisville.
Would it have been a fitting tribute to have a black President contribute $10 million of our tax money to a black internationally known sculptor to do a piece honoring the most famous black man in America in the fight for civil rights?
I think so and I am not alone. From a story this summer in Your Black World:
There are also some who would argue that Dr. King, a man who fought for the rights of American workers, might be concerned about the exclusion of black and white American workers on the project. Bringing Chinese workers across the world to work on a King memorial is an interesting reminder of corporate globalization that is taking place in America today. Throughout the economic recovery, American workers have been the least to benefit, while the wealthy and corporations have done quite well. Part of the reason for this division is due to the fact that wages are kept low by using workers overseas.
Well stated if you ask me.
We should all be insulted by this travesty. To honor an American of Dr. King's caliber we must always remember that we are Americans first and foremost.
To do otherwise is UN-American in the eyes of many, white and black.
That is the greatest insult of all to Dr. King.
In the years since in the quest to honor Dr. King we have done many things but this latest one defies logic and would have King rolling over in his grave.
The new statue in honor of Dr. King was approved and partially paid for ($10 million federal dollars) under a black President, Barrack Obama, made of white granite, and by a Chinese sculptor resulting in an uncanny likeness to an Asian version of Dr. King from a communist Country.
"The decision had been made, even before Lei was chosen as the artist, to use a certain white granite, unique to China, for the statue," Podas-Larson said. "He carved it in China, and it was then taken apart into 158 pieces, like a jigsaw, and transported on a ship and brought to the National Mall, where it was reassembled." (http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2011/08/25/31085/chinese_sculptor_of_national_malls_martin_luther_king_monument_was_discovered_in_st_paul)
Lei brought his own team of Chinese stone workers.
Does this not fly in the face of exactly what Dr. King was fighting for? Freedom and equality in America?
How can we have a Country in shambles pay a Chinese sculptor in a communist country to come up with this version of Dr. King AND bring his own team of Chinese workers over here to help assemble it?
Of course lest we forget MLK III says it is a good job. Why wouldn't he?
His family was paid $800,000 for permission to use the likeness of Dr. King for this project.
Yes Dr. King would be rolling over in his grave over this as well I am sure. As a public figure in the fight for equality to pay his family for his likeness would be a further embarrassment to Dr. King himself in my opinion.
From the most famous speech ever given by Dr. King:
"....... When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds.""
I have to ask, have we given the African Americans a bad check for this likeness of its most famous leader?
I say yes we have.
Dr. King stood for the embodiment of being American. An America that was free for all. An America that would stand united tall and proud. That was his dream. The American dream.
I can't help but think that he would be insulted when the most powerful and influential African American of our time in Barrack Obama would have the gall to help fund this work to a communist, or to have it made from a white stone, or even further to bear little resemblance to the Dr. King that most would recognize.
As an American I feel insulted. We have spent almost 50 years trying to honor Dr. King in an attempt to placate the African American community, yes I said placate, in the same way we have always done in this regard. It is almost like the old saying "throw the dog a bone."
It seems as if as long as it appears we are doing something that everything is ok in America.
It is not.
We continue all these years later allowing, yes I said allowing, a few in the African American community to benefit and live the American dream, yet in many ways we continue refusing to allow real progress for All of us regardless of race to have the opportunity to.
There are some within the African American community who continue to play the race card for their own benefit just ask local Councilwoman Judy Green. She will now and forever be used as an "example" of what is wrong with black people who get power. Nothing could be further from the truth as the mindset of Green is not a white or black thing. It is a money thing.
There are just as many in the white community who continue using this placating mindset to convince others that they truly care as well. Yet we will continue putting dressing on the problems and continue ignoring the basic reason the problems exist today. Poverty, lack of inclusion, and basically everything King fought for is alive today though not as public as it once was. We continue using race as a dividing tool, behind closed doors mostly, but there nonetheless.
Placation is not inclusive folks. That is the reality. The perception of this farcical endeavor belies what many of us are fighting for today. The legacy of Dr. King and freedom. This is not a white or black problem, it is an American problem.
When we have a President that argues he is trying to help us in job creation then allows $10 million of our tax money be spent in a communist country for an American job that is alarming.
Does everything America has have to come from China? It certainly appears so.
Is there anyone qualified in America to do the honor of this statue of Dr. King? Of course there is. One that comes to mind is local sculptor Ed Hamilton right here in Louisville.
Would it have been a fitting tribute to have a black President contribute $10 million of our tax money to a black internationally known sculptor to do a piece honoring the most famous black man in America in the fight for civil rights?
I think so and I am not alone. From a story this summer in Your Black World:
There are also some who would argue that Dr. King, a man who fought for the rights of American workers, might be concerned about the exclusion of black and white American workers on the project. Bringing Chinese workers across the world to work on a King memorial is an interesting reminder of corporate globalization that is taking place in America today. Throughout the economic recovery, American workers have been the least to benefit, while the wealthy and corporations have done quite well. Part of the reason for this division is due to the fact that wages are kept low by using workers overseas.
Well stated if you ask me.
We should all be insulted by this travesty. To honor an American of Dr. King's caliber we must always remember that we are Americans first and foremost.
To do otherwise is UN-American in the eyes of many, white and black.
That is the greatest insult of all to Dr. King.
Look up the Highlander Folk School and King's association with that organization which was a Communist training and agitation school formed in the 1930s in Monteagle, Tennessee. Quite interesting reading the FBI files and Congressional Record from that era. King did some good things and yes equality and beating the segregationists was correct. However, many of his fellow travelers were also affiliated with the Communist Party
ReplyDeleteSo Anonymous ...
ReplyDeleteIF the Communists had come into power, could they have destroyed our country any better than the current crop of DEMOCRATS & REPUBLICANS?
In retrospect, I think not!
From the viewpoint of capitalist, unions were considered communist organizations in the 1930s. And I'm sure the FBI and Washington politicians were dispassionate reporters of events during this period when WWI veterans were being beaten within the shadow of the White House for asking for their benefits, especially considering Russia was an Allied power during WWII.
ReplyDeleteWhen you and your family are starving, any political organization that promises change looks pretty good -- a lesson Washington might want to take into consideration today.