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MLK Gets Set in Stone, but the Man Is Missing
Most Americans, even those who hated him when he was alive, adore the memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. As with all icons, we love them with all of our hearts once the reality of what they stood for has been buried under layers of flattery and forgetfulness.
Though most often thought of in gauzy, sentimental terms if he's remembered at all, MLK has become the most nonthreatening of our national patron saints. The word "dream" -- as in "I Have a Dream" -- is now his middle name. It also happens to be our nation's most memorable cliche.
It is one of the great ironies of history: While King spent the last year of his life vilified by much of the liberal political establishment and alienated from many allies in the civil rights movement, he has become a symbol of tolerance and accommodation.
King's most prophetic utterances about American militarism, foreign wars and economic exploitation have been whittled down to bumper sticker-sized banalities over the years. We've become so fixated on MLK's "dream" rhetoric -- at the expense of the hell-raising that was once an integral part of his witness -- that his words no longer pose the threat that they once did.
When the $120 million Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial is finally unveiled in Washington, D.C., this weekend, it will be three years overdue and $20 million over budget. In many ways, its excesses and visual overstatement make it the perfect symbol of our times.
Situated between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials near the Tidal Basin, the 30-foot-tall image of MLK is emerging from its jagged cocoon of pink Chinese granite at the same time our nation is engaged in two wars. To be true to MLK's spirit, its facial expression should be one of outrage.
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.
While it captures an aspect of MLK's moral fierceness that Americans have forgotten, it feels more like a statement about "the end of history" than an invitation to participate in an ongoing story of liberation. It is a visual exclamation point about a movement when it should be ellipsis points.
My preference would have been for something more post-modern and non-representational -- like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The more I read and learn about the civil rights movement, the stranger projects that isolate MLK appear to me. Why separate the movement's most visible leader from that stream of ordinary people who did extraordinary things? He wasn't even the movement's most effective leader, though his martyrdom made him its most memorable.
MLK would have discouraged such a grand monument to his memory. Why not build one, if we must, that acknowledges the moral seriousness and discipline of the entire civil rights movement?
Whatever one thinks about bus boycotts, sit-ins and marches against discrimination a generation ago, they were never about advancing a cult of personality. The people who fought most fiercely for civil rights, only to lose their lives, did so to claim the protections and promises of the U.S. Constitution for all Americans.
King was part of a "glorious cloud of witnesses" whose names were either forgotten by history or never known. How amazing it would have been to see the names of ordinary people chiseled or projected on walls displayed somewhere on the Mall. The name of every person who was ever beaten, jailed or lynched because they fought for justice should be on display for every American to see what true courage looks like.
There should be room on the Mall to honor the church deacons, the weary seamstresses, the idealistic college students, the tireless domestics and all of the "nobodies" of all races who stood up to Jim Crow at considerable risk. Without them, this country never would have advanced to the next stage in its evolution.
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.
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Show All"Dead man make convenient heroes. It is easier to build monuments than to build a better world."
Dr. Vincent Harding, former speechwriter for Dr. King and co-writer of Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
I believe that all serious followers of the principles of liberty, peace and justice must listen to the speech at the link above to get a clear idea of Dr. King's vision. Sadly he has become a Hallmark card hero, another idol to go shopping on because people have the day off. Dr. King has been marginalized in death in ways he never would have tolerated when he was alive.
There is no way the American political elite black or white are going to tell the whole truth about Dr. King and his denunciation of the United States as the biggest purveyors of violence in the world and his fierce opposition to America's racist wars in the third world and the connection between this fact and the racism and poverty at home. To have this current warmongering president give a speech at the memorial is an insult to this great man.
I fail to understand your statement that Dr. King was "vilified by much of the liberal political establishment".
Dr. King was beloved by everyone I knew.
I don't know what you mean by the "liberal political establishment", as the "political establishment" was never ever liberal during any part of Dr. King's lifetime.
It is true that he was "vilified" by the establishment... indeed it is likely he was assassinated with the assistance of the FBI... but these were not liberals.
And yes it is true that our government vilifies the Norman Thomases and the Martin Luther Kings during their lifetime, and then -- when they are safely tucked away in their graves -- names high schools after them.
But please don't 'vilify' liberals.
Mr. Norman was using also the word "liberal establishment" in its non-USAn, international sense of the Bourgeois Capitalist Class
Or more specifically, by "liberal political establishment" he meant the Washington Post, NYT, and the Kennedy/LBJ/Hubert Humphrey Democratic Party (and the modern-day Obama Democratic Party) All these organizations vilified him after his Beyond Vietnam speech, and hated him even more when he began to criticise the economic system and US imperialism.
Liberals deserve vilification. As a fellow Pittsburgher, I applaud Mr. Norman's leftward move out of the liberal establishment as reflected in his writings of late.
Of course all the "organizations vilified him after his Beyond Vietnam speech, and hated him even more when he began to criticize the economic system and US imperialism."
With the holiday, the statues, and the speeches they can give the appearance of honoring Dr. King while disregarding most of what he said and stood for. Tactically brilliant but morally and ethically awful, but what else would you expect from . . . "them."
"Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope." In imperial context (and out of King's speech), that translates to, "that's all you get, suckers!"
Don't you find it ironic that America puts up all these memorials to the people the government kills? I guess it keeps up the pretense.
Surely were Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr cited more comprehensively in their views on the "Gildded Age," Wall Street, greed, war, military vs civil power, racism, militarism, and poverty; all three would be viewed as threats to the establishment. Not one would be seen as friendly towards those now in power. But then teaching such history wouuld get someone fired in most school systems in the USA as well.
Hell even in the early 1970s and the time of Watergate when a "liberal" to progressive atmosphere was supposedly so pervasive, when shown a copy of the Declaration of Independence without saying it was that document and written by Thomas Jefferson, most people responded "Does the FBI know about this?"
I wonder what the result would be if someone tried to run that experiment again. Showing the DoI to people and asking them about it, that is...
But, surely, you're not going to imply that the standards of education were lower in the 60s are you? I thought they had been higher then, and that's why so many people now laugh at yanks who can't find their own country on an unmarked world map... :) Could people have been laughing at them then too?
Yes I do find it ironic--and disgusting. The Empire builds a monument to the guy they assassinated. Nice.
Does anyone else cringe at the hypocrisy of this praise for MLK? I mean, Jesus, the government did everything in its power to discredit the man when he was alive, hell, even 55% of the black community opposed his moral stand against the war. Now we honor the man for his courage and conviction when we spit on him when he was alive? I find this to be disgusting hypocrisy.
Great article, I agree 100%.
Let's call this rock " Martin Luther King Emasculated"
What an ugly statue.
I think the idea is basically to steal Dr. King from the rest of us.
Our government has never wanted to honor King, but has always wanted to "disappear" him.
So now we get this dead rock, this Golden Calf, in the place of the spirit of the real man.
Since this new and improved King is made of stone, he's not going anywhere. So the FBI can easily keep an eye on him! ;>)
The subliminal message of this memorial almost seems to be that the MLK legacy is now officially the property of the federal government, instead of belonging to the people.
What is the subconscious motivation behind putting this statue on the National Mall? Is it really to honor Dr. King?
If so, it is less than a success already.
It reminds me of some other statues I've seen: Joseph Stalin. Genghis Khan. Saddam Hussein.
Crueler joke on the living unemployed citizens of this nation, that remember his life and sacrifices and could have benefitted from the employment.
The Feds finally build a tribute to the great man... and what color is it? You think they could've used marble or bronze or something. Talk about back-handed compliments...
Hey they couldn't build it alone. Like all things today they needed imported help. Our granite was inferior and so were our craftsmen. Next they'll be telling us it's because no US citizens were willing to do the work.
"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."
I agree. And he does have a fitting living memorial to his life and stuggles in every community center, school, and childcare center, and playground named after him. That's his lasting memorial, until funding cuts close them all and all we have left is this imported monstrosity.
Our president has already told us we don't know how to raise our children as well as other nations in his State of Union Speech. Our artists couldn't capture the vision, our natural resources were inferior and couldn't provide the materials. Well let's hope the Chinese tourists visit the memorial. I won't be.
Oh how phuking quaint. The government that murdered him now puts up a monument to the guy. It's nauseating. How about some nice monuments to John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, ... etc...