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Martin Luther King Memorial Controversy: Made in China
The Christian Broadcasting Network ^ | Laura Robertson

Posted on 01/21/2008 11:05:29 AM PST by americanophile

Few American icons are as universally loved as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His struggle for civil rights remains fresh in the minds of many, and today of all days, we're reminded of his work to promote racial equality.

In addition to having his own federal holiday, King will soon have his own monument in Washington, DC, joining the elite ranks of Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, World War II Veterans, and other honored Americans. But King's monument won't be designed by an African American, or even an American sculptor, and it won't be carved from American granite. The new Martin Luther King memorial will be Made in China.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: cbn; chairmanking; china; madeinchina; maotinlutherking; marxistlutherking; mlk; statue
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Having our monuments manufactured for us in China irks me to no end. If it was a gift of the Chinese people that would be one thing, but to chose a foreign artist? If we can't find one here to make it, we should immediately eliminate the NEA.
1 posted on 01/21/2008 11:05:30 AM PST by americanophile
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To: americanophile

“The new Martin Luther King memorial will be Made in China.”

Being that MLK was a closet communist, this might be appropriate.


2 posted on 01/21/2008 11:08:58 AM PST by PetroniusMaximus
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To: americanophile

“universally loved”

WWWWaaaayyyyy too much.


3 posted on 01/21/2008 11:14:43 AM PST by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: americanophile
I've seen the design, and it is powerful. Did American veterans object when a Chinese-American artist had her design chosen for the Vietnam Memorial? That turned out to be one of the most effective -- doing more to evoke the pain and appreciation of those who visit it -- than any other war memorial.

Bottom line is this: after the design is approved and the work is underway, the blacks are saying, "Wait a minute, we didn't get our due." BTW, I understand that the King family charged cash money for the "right to use his image" on this memorial.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, "Snow, Ice, and Lame Tom"

A Freeper in Congress? Please act now.

4 posted on 01/21/2008 11:15:12 AM PST by Congressman Billybob (www.ArmorforCongress.com)
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To: americanophile

Will it be made out of lead?


5 posted on 01/21/2008 11:17:11 AM PST by Westlander (Unleash the Neutron Bomb)
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Congressman Billybob

I’d vote for you if I could. I can send this to some friends that live in Carthage, NC but I’m pretty sure that’s not your district.


7 posted on 01/21/2008 11:21:38 AM PST by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: Westlander

Lead Trojan MLK


8 posted on 01/21/2008 11:25:36 AM PST by beefree (some think 'Protectionist' is a bad name. Hillary calls the U.S.Constitution "Political Winds")
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To: Congressman Billybob
"Did American veterans object when a Chinese-American artist had her design chosen for the Vietnam Memorial?"

This strikes me as a nonsequitor...what would they object to? She was an American.

9 posted on 01/21/2008 11:27:38 AM PST by americanophile
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To: americanophile

“...we should immediately eliminate the NEA.”

I second that, with all my heart! And I don’t see any reason for an excuse to do so.

By the way, I’m referring to both of them.


10 posted on 01/21/2008 11:31:04 AM PST by Outership (Closing down big government one department at a time)
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To: Outership

I second your motion, on both.


11 posted on 01/21/2008 11:34:28 AM PST by americanophile
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To: americanophile

“Furthermore, although the artist, Lei Yixin, is a Chinese citizen, the Roma Design Group, which will design the memorial, was selected out of 900 applicants worldwide. Ten out of twelve members on the committee that chose the sculptor are black.

The leadership of the King Memorial Foundation has also fully supported its decision, and its president Harry Johnson says that Lei shouldn’t be judged by his ethnicity, but the quality of his work. According to Johnson, “Dr. King himself was not just a black hero, he was not just an American hero. He was a hero to all the world.”

But for many African Americans, a Chinese citizen simply doesn’t have the understanding of African American culture to sculpt the King Memorial. An Internet petition, King is Ours, spearheaded by Gilbert and Lea Young, aims to get a million signatures protesting the current plans for the memorial. As of today, they have just under 2,000.
__________________________________________________________________________

A worldwide, open competition involving 900 applicants. As an art lover, here’s where I part company with politics.

I’ve seen the photos of the artist’s submission model. It is damn GOOD.

Do you want a really good sculpture by a really good artist, or do you want a politically-vetted artist making a piece of dreck.

Der Fuehrer did not approve of art by ethnically or politically unacceptable artists either. Only proper, right-thinking, pure-blooded aryans. Well, you’ve seen the results...


12 posted on 01/21/2008 11:36:57 AM PST by sinanju
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To: Congressman Billybob

the news reported this thing is THREE STORIES tall.

Is the veterans memorial that tall?

I thought the king family did not want a dc memorial because it takes away from their own memorial.


13 posted on 01/21/2008 11:42:09 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: americanophile

“Washington Crossing the Delaware” was painted by a German, Emmanuel Leutze in 1851. His first version went up in smoke in a WWII bombing. Ours is in the Met in New York.

Should we tear that painting out of it’s frame and burn it?


14 posted on 01/21/2008 11:46:37 AM PST by sinanju
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To: americanophile
King will soon have his own monument in Washington, DC, joining the elite ranks of Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, World War II Veterans, and other honored Americans

Is there a Gen. Douglas McArthur monument in North Korea?

Read this, if you get a chance. According to the Leftist Web site that archived this speech, Time magazine at the time called it "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi." The Washington Post said King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."

They were being kind. The speech actually makes you wonder who King thought his cause, his country, and his people were.

15 posted on 01/21/2008 11:46:49 AM PST by SamuraiScot
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To: sinanju

Wrong. Leutze was born in Germany, lived in the U.S., and became an American citizen. THAT MAKES HIM AN AMERICAN. Is this difficult? Why do have trouble with the notion that as a matter of modern public policy, when we commission work to be on our National Mall, it should be done by an American.


16 posted on 01/21/2008 11:53:41 AM PST by americanophile
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To: longtermmemmory

That is tall...like a Macy’s float.


17 posted on 01/21/2008 11:54:11 AM PST by americanophile
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To: sinanju
Well, I don’t want the sculpture at all, but if we’re going to have it on the National Mall, then yes, I think it is appropriate to have it done by Americans. And I’m not about to take any “Der Fuehrer” lessons from the totalitarian Chinese communists or their sympathizers - they’re every bit as bad as the NAZIS.
18 posted on 01/21/2008 11:58:57 AM PST by americanophile
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To: SamuraiScot

There are a lot of people who deserve a statue before MLK. How about John Adams for crying out loud? James Madison for goodness sake! Both of these men deserve to be there more perhaps than even Jefferson, much less MLK or FDR. In the ultimate oddity, we don’t even have a statue of Washington!


19 posted on 01/21/2008 12:01:50 PM PST by americanophile
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To: sinanju
:I’ve seen the photos of the artist’s submission model. It is damn GOOD.

I can't say it 'sucks', but even before I heard of the controversy, the stylization struck me as 'Marxist Heroic' in feel with the use of symmetry and hard angles. I could easily see this being a sculpture of Marx, Lenin or Chairman Mao. Understandable if the artist was raised in the Cult of Mao.


20 posted on 01/21/2008 12:04:36 PM PST by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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