Mistakes in sculpture lead to re-engraving

January 15th this year marks the 83th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, the leader of the American civil rights movement. In mid-October 2011, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park was officially opened in Washington, the capital of the United States. The sculpture was written by the Chinese artist Lei Yi Zinc, the dean of the Hunan Sculpture Academy. In March, a monument under the Martin Luther King statue in the park was ordered to be re-engraved because the nameplate text misled the leader of the black civil rights movement.

On the 13th of this month, Ken Salazar, the Interior Secretary of the United States, instructed the National Parks Administration Office to amend the tombstone text within 30 days. The monument wrote: “I am a conductor of justice, peace, and justice. (See above).” This sentence was quoted from a speech “Conductor's Instinct” written by Kim on February 4, 1968. However, the original wording and tone are quite different from this. The original speech was “If you want to say that I am a conductor, then I am a fair conductor and I am a peace conductor. Say I'm a justice conductor."

Rachel Mantelfield, a columnist in The Washington Post, first discovered this "wrong reference", arguing that such revision makes people feel that the black civil rights movement leader is rather arrogant and arrogant. "Omit 'if' and 'you' have completely changed their meaning." He repeated his point of view in the Washington Post on the 13th, which he believes is the power of ** to face the tedious bureaucracy. A small victory, and this is the victory of the people's discourse power advocated by Kim.

Was adapted to "confessionalism"

The monument to Martin Luther King’s controversy is not surprising because the man himself is full of controversy. Charles Gallagher, Professor of Sociology at the University of LaSalle, points out that people are willing to regard gold as their own. Look like.

Fifteen years ago, from the plan to approve the construction of the Golden Memorial Park, the controversy surrounding it was endless. The first is about site selection. Afterwards, it is the determination of the sculptor. Why is it a Chinese? The current Chinese artist Lei Yi Zinc, dean of the Hunan Sculpture Academy, participated in the International Symposium on Stone Sculpture in St. Paul, USA, in July 2006. Because of the statue of a girl, "Delusion" was miraculously selected as the statue of Martin Luther King. Afterwards, Kim's posture was also described as "antagonistic", and even oversized scales were accused of Soviet monumental style.

Since the opening of the Martin Luther King National Memorial in Washington last October, every detail of the monument has been carefully reviewed by the world.

The entire memorial park covers an area of ​​1.5 hectares and is located on the shore of the tidal lake in downtown Washington. In the park's core building, "The Stone of Hope," a statue of Martin Luther King, standing 9 meters tall, stands high on his chest and stares into the distance.

The key word matching the gold sculpture was the one he said in his speech in Washington in March 1963. “Out of a mountain of despair, there is a stone of hope.” There is also a low wall nearby, engraved with 14 sentences saying In terms of love, justice and hope. The speech in the phrase "conductor's instinct" is among them.

The poet Maya Angelo, a member of the Martin Luther King Sculpture History Committee, told the Washington Post that this adaptation made Kim a “confessional” and “he never said that himself. He said 'If you want to say'."

Remembrance architect Ed Jackson responded to the criticism by saying that the introduction was modified simply because there was not enough space. The National Arts Commission had previously checked the monument and thought that “there is no problem with this.”

In fact, gold is not the first politician to be misquoted in history. James Rowen, the historian and author and author of The Teacher Tells Me Lies, said that Jefferson’s introductions to Jefferson’s monument, “divorced”, gave an impression that he would mistakenly think he was an abolitionist.

The significance of the anniversary is that Martin Luther King is a complex person, but how can a monument show his complexity?

Warren Goodstein, professor of history at Hartford University, believes that people's understanding of gold is too simple and superficial. "We knew from elementary school that Kim was a dreamer. 'I have a dream' Deeds continue to repeat in the ear, but people understand him less and less."

Gold's reputation relies on those real powers he said. He rebelled against inequality and focused on changing the law to promote people's freedom from thinking. When he was assassinated, he was planning to launch a large-scale "poor campaign" in Washington. If the organizers think it necessary, they may shut down the city. Perhaps they may call it "Occupy Washington."

Kim encountered all sorts of troubles - insults, beatings, imprisonment, and bombing of houses.

"Gold is the most admired person in the United States and the one who gains the most hatred," Goldstein said.

Even Kim’s most famous speech, the one that was published in Washington in March 1963, was not just the part of “I have a dream”. It was only the end of the entire speech, and at the beginning he was conducting for economic and social justice. Call sign.

“The Americans did not fulfill this sacred duty. Instead, they gave the Negro people a bad check. When they withdrew it, it would be returned and covered with a stamp of 'insufficient balance',” he said at the beginning of the speech. This remark on poverty and equality remains meaningful to this day, said Jason Purnell, a professor of public health at Washington University in St. Louis.

Today, the United States even has a black president. Charles Gallagher, Professor of Sociology at the University of LaSalle, pointed out: "Looking at survey data, many white Americans now believe that the goal of the civil rights movement has been achieved."

The third Monday in January is the national holiday of the United States — Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today, it has also become an excuse for shopping promotions, social gatherings, and late sleep.

Rumors Worthy of Inscription The Martin Luther King Memorial has been visited since last year. In the first month there were 380,000 visitors, exceeding the grandeur of the opening of the Roosevelt Memorial.

King still has its significance in this era. Perhaps this is why people care about it. Therefore, it is not surprising that the committee’s bickering, politicians’ arguments, and the public’s curiosity are not surprising.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate for Kim himself to make concluding remarks. On April 4, 1968, just two months after this speech, the recording of "The Conductor's Instinct" sounded again at the funeral of King.

"Sometimes, the conductor's instinct may be devastating," said Kim. "If you can't make good use of it, you can only fight the over-inflated self day after day, and you'll never get anything back."

In the worst case, Kim said that the commander's instinct would lead to elitism and racial prejudice. However, he added that this may also be guided in good places—justice, love, and generosity. This conviction deserves to be engraved by the monument of Martin Luther King.

"If you want to say that I am a conductor, I say I am a fair conductor, and say I am a peace conductor, and say I am a justice conductor. All other shallow things It doesn't matter."