Comments on: The Controversy: MLK Memorial in D.C. http://blog.designpublic.com/2008/04/24/the-controversy-mlk-memorial-in-dc/ Fresh New Design Featured Often Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:13:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: sopheak http://blog.designpublic.com/2008/04/24/the-controversy-mlk-memorial-in-dc/#comment-57749 sopheak Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:41:02 +0000 http://blog.designpublic.com/2008/04/24/the-controversy-mlk-memorial-in-dc/#comment-57749 I think it's a legitimate question to ask if the sculptor should be Black, but I don't think it's legitimate to ask if it belittles Dr. King's legacy to have someone affiliated with China be the lead artist. In fact, I think it's delusional and more than a little racist/jingoistic. Do people really believe China's human rights record is so much worse than the United States? Come on, in the past 5 years alone, the US has killed 90,000 civilians in Iraq! Of course, I know a lot of Americans - or maybe even most Americans - don't consider the victims in the Middle East to be "human." I think you're right, we cannot know the artist's personal politics! For people to assume someone from China must support their government's oppressive policies would be like saying that all people in the United States support the good ol USA's oppressive policies: that is to say racial profiling, illegal war, death penalty, pro-corporate/anti-worker tax policy, immigrant scapegoating, Sean Bell, Sovintha Nhem, Amadou Diallo, Balbir Singh Sodhi, and on and on... Those who criticize the selection of Lei Yixin on the basis of his homeland need to take a long hard look at their own homeland. Dr. King never would have issued a pass to what the USA has done in the years since his death. We haven't gotten much closer to achieving his dream; we've only gotten better at hiding how far we are from it. I think it’s a legitimate question to ask if the sculptor should be Black, but I don’t think it’s legitimate to ask if it belittles Dr. King’s legacy to have someone affiliated with China be the lead artist. In fact, I think it’s delusional and more than a little racist/jingoistic.

Do people really believe China’s human rights record is so much worse than the United States? Come on, in the past 5 years alone, the US has killed 90,000 civilians in Iraq! Of course, I know a lot of Americans - or maybe even most Americans - don’t consider the victims in the Middle East to be “human.”

I think you’re right, we cannot know the artist’s personal politics! For people to assume someone from China must support their government’s oppressive policies would be like saying that all people in the United States support the good ol USA’s oppressive policies: that is to say racial profiling, illegal war, death penalty, pro-corporate/anti-worker tax policy, immigrant scapegoating, Sean Bell, Sovintha Nhem, Amadou Diallo, Balbir Singh Sodhi, and on and on…

Those who criticize the selection of Lei Yixin on the basis of his homeland need to take a long hard look at their own homeland. Dr. King never would have issued a pass to what the USA has done in the years since his death. We haven’t gotten much closer to achieving his dream; we’ve only gotten better at hiding how far we are from it.

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