controversy over chinese sculptor and mlk memorial

[tripostrophe]

surprised that no one's picked this up yet

link from angryasianman: http://www.angryasianman.com/2007/05/controversy-over-chinese-sculptor-and.html

controversy over chinese sculptor and mlk memorial
Back in February, it was announced that master sculptor Lei Yixin of China had been chosen to carve the image of Martin Luther King Jr. for a memorial to be built on the National Mall in Washington DC—a tremendous honor and responsibility. However, there has apparently been some controversy and dissatisfaction over the fact that artist was chosen from outside the African American community: King sculptor meets stony resistance. One detractor set up a website to protest the selection of a "Chinese guy" to sculpt King's image. And of course Jesse Jackson has gotten involved: Jackson Pushes for Black Inclusion in MLK Memorial, Project President Makes Big Promise As Another Million Rolls In

History has shown that any time a significant project is proposed for the National Mall, you're going to have controversy. I can't help but recall that Maya Lin was also insulted and scrutinized when she was selected to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. How dare they! An Asian artist chosen to design such important American monument! (Lin was a Yale University architecture student from Ohio.) Her detractors called her a "gook" and "the enemy." To them, it was a slap in the face. [UPDATE: Cindy reminds me that Maya Lin also designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.] It seems that in some people's eyes, having a "Chinese guy" sculpt Dr. King is equally as insulting. I'm inclined to side with Beverly Robertson, director of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, regarding MLK: "His impact is felt by all people of all races, colors, creeds, religions... He doesn't just belong to us in this country. He belongs to the world."

.word to the maya lin parallel

.irked by the fact that jackson (and everyone else who's doing it) has stooped to using terms like "the chinese guy" to try and dehumanize him (in a dismissive way, not violent)

.interesting concept though; a Chinese citizen sculpting a figure whose main impact was on the U.S., but hey why not aside from the nationalist bond?

.possibly valid point in not choosing an Af. Am. sculptor but one of the article explains that people on the committee chose him themselves

[applehead]

well. MLK will be very proud.

it's a little bit ironic.

[deez nuts]

lol the chinese sculptor should give m.l.k. asian features.

[Golden Monkey]

I can't help but recall that Maya Lin was also insulted and scrutinized when she was selected to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. How dare they! An Asian artist chosen to design such important American monument! (Lin was a Yale University architecture student from Ohio.) Her detractors called her a "gook" and "the enemy."

The main opposition was to her design not her race.

She designed something that many saw as an ugly insult compared to the other more impressive monuments on the Mall.

[Golden Monkey]

lol the chinese sculptor should give m.l.k. asian features.

Funny, there's an episode of M*A*S*H that has a scene like that.

A local Korean guy is give the task of creating a sculpture of Col. Blake and it pretty much looks like him but with "Asian" eyes. :biggrin:

[tripostrophe]

well. MLK will be very proud.

it's a little bit ironic.

dayum. i totally missed that. haha

[tripostrophe]

The main opposition was to her design not her race.

She designed something that many saw as an ugly insult compared to the other more impressive monuments on the Mall.

That's from the article, not me actually. my comments are preceded by a period. And I think I missed the whole memorial controversy, but I could easily see some people covering up their racist attitudes with arguments regarding the design, with the underlying intent of discrediting her work. And there was some white guy who designed another memorial who got 10x the $ and all this other sexist/racist crap that came bundled with it.

[SunWuKong]

The main opposition was to her design not her race.

She designed something that many saw as an ugly insult compared to the other more impressive monuments on the Mall.

actually both were reasons for the objections.

http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue9/essayksands.html

[Golden Monkey]

actually both were reasons for the objections.

http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue9/essayksands.html

Sorry, the girl who wrote that article doesn't know "jack".

The objection was to the design. She and her supporters simply played the race card on her behalf to immunize her design from criticism.

If her design was impressive, heroic, etc - like the Marine monument across the river - then the fact that she was Asian and female and young might have made her design even more acceptable.

Compared to the other monuments on the mall it is pretty lame. But then again how can you memorialize such a massive wasted effort anyway.

The war was an ugly failure and so is her monument to it. So I guess it works.

[raacluse]

The objection was to the design. She and her supporters simply played the race card on her behalf to immunize her design from criticism.

If her design was impressive, heroic, etc - like the Marine monument across the river - then the fact that she was Asian and female and young might have made her design even more acceptable.

Compared to the other monuments on the mall it is pretty lame. But then again how can you memorialize such a massive wasted effort anyway.

The war was an ugly failure and so is her monument to it. So I guess it works.


Ouch! A backhanded compliment if there ever was one...

why should all memorials look the same?
Should all creative works be representative/figurative/realistic vs. abstract/minimal/contemporary?

(An example of a less traditional memorial is the FDR one, along the Tidal Basin. I happened to visit it last weekend.)

I think her race and gender were also strikes against her. The defenders of her design probably played those cards to counter criticism, but it's not difficult to see that critics would use them against the design and designer.

[SunWuKong]

Sorry, the girl who wrote that article doesn't know "jack".

an Oscar winning documentary about Maya Lin also says that her race was a factor in the controversy.

Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision (1994) Directed by Freida Lee Mock. An informative look at the Chinese American artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, this film was the surprise winner of the Best Documentary Oscar of 1994. It begins by chronicling the controversy surrounding Lin's Vietnam Memorial (including the role her race played in the dispute), but it also moves on to show us her other works: sculptures and designs which aren't as well-known, but which are just as fascinating. Although the film itself is rather pedestrian, Lin's art is anything but! Her designs are demanding, inventive, yet always accessible. And they endow the documentary with a sense of artistry and mystery that it might not otherwise have. (Available from American Film Foundation, P.O. Box 2000, Santa Monica, CA 90406, 1-800-472-1500.)

http://www.manaa.org/VideoGuide.html

or does the documentary filmmaker also not know what she's talking about?

Compared to the other monuments on the mall it is pretty lame. But then again how can you memorialize such a massive wasted effort anyway.

The war was an ugly failure and so is her monument to it. So I guess it works.

have to disagree. i live in DC and have given the standard DC tour to a whole bunch of friends and relatives from out of town, so i've been at basically most of the monuments multiple times. the Vietnam War Memorial is by far one of the most powerful. but you really have to stand in front of it and touch it to get a sense of it. it is actually warm to the touch. and as it has been repeated by various writings about the memorial, the fact that it is one of the most visited sites in DC validates its popularity with the people - and that includes non-Americans, because the monuments get a lot of tourists from outside the country as well.

[BeTheReds]

I don't see the problem with having whichever sculptor make monuments. Would we be angry with a black or white dude making a statue of confucius or Bruce Lee or any other Asian person? Well I wouldn't anyway.

[deez nuts]

blacks just complain too much. what happened to: we're all minorities in this country and we have to stand against the white man blah blah blah...yada yada..yada.

this must be a ploy by the white man to pit blacks and whites against one another!

i'm willing to bet if a really reknowned famous white sculptor was offered the job to sculpt m.l.k.there wouldn't be any issues or as much of an issue. it can be probably passed off as some bullshit like bridging the relationships between whites and blacks and/or how far blacks and whites have gone since m.l.k. and all that good stuff. **tingly goosebumps**

[USCTrojanzNo1]

Who cares? It's getting pathetic to see a sculptor get bashed b/c of ethnicity concerns. If this guy can do a good job, then he can do a good job.

This isn't like we are getting a Chinese person to portray a black person in a Spike Lee film about Martin Luther King Jr.

[SunWuKong]

anyway, i would agree with the objection if we're talking about the design of the sculpture. but we're not. the guy was just selected to carve out the design. yeah, there's probaby a black sculptor that's good enough for it, but do we really want "good enough" as opposed to the best available?

[Sven]

Since I can't post link here's an article with a different pov:

The Chinese connection, 'N-Word Brown' sofas and momuments

Blackonomics

By James Clingman

(NNPA)—Let me get this straight. We have a Chinese furniture company labeling one of its sofas "[NWord] Brown." We have a Chinese sculptor being awarded the rights to carve the proposed $100 million Martin Luther King Memorial. And while Master Lei Yixin is carving the MLK stone, his Chinese brethren will continue carving out a large piece of Africa by developing the land, purchasing the oil, and selling Africans everything they want and need. What's wrong with this picture? To most black folks in America, it seems the answer is obvious—nothing.

The sofa issue could be mitigated by the possibility that in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, from where the sofa was shipped, the NWord could be just an effort on their part to emulate a colloquial U.S. expression. The Chinese are capitalists; they want the money. I can't believe they would intentionally do something to alienate what might be the largest consumer group in the world in terms of disposable income. I don't know. They might have thought the N-Word was a term of endearment. Some black folks do.

Nonetheless, the "N-Word Brown" sofa fiasco will have a brief shelf life and will soon fade into the annals of "shock news"stories. Purchases from China will go on and we will be back to business as usual in a month or so. Whatever the case, I can give the Chinese furniture label a free ghetto pass this time. Now if the color of the MLK memorial is done in lush tones of N-Word Brown, I will definitely have a problem.

Nice segue. Let's talk about this MLK memorial. I don't know if you saw the article written by one of the country's most renowned artists, Gilbert Young. The article, titled, "A Chinese Martin Luther King?!" (link removed) expresses Young's outrage at the lack of a black designer (The Roma Group, link removed, was selected for that) and a black sculptor to complete the project (Lei Yixin was elected for that $10 million honor).

As a result, Gilbert Young says, "So let's see, that leaves the digging and hauling, which in some folks; eyes may be appropriate because this nation was built on the backs of blacks. I, for one, am not willing to bob my head and grin over the fact that some black subcontractor will be employed to move the dirt. Nor am I willing to allow my children's children to visit a memorial that will not reflect African American art and culture and artistry."

Black people are always busy trying to be "inclusive" with our projects while, at the same time, we are being "excluded"—from projects controlled by others. I don't know what's up with those in charge of the MLK Memorial, but I have got to go with Gilbert Young on this one. He questioned the travesty of justice in having the "national treasure of China," Lei Yixin, that's Communist China, sculpt the center piece of the most important African American monument, in recognition of the most important African American movement in the history of the U.S.—a movement that never could have taken place in China. Maybe they should put the memorial in China, especially since some of the quotes to be inscribed on it speak directly to the oppression in that country.

I must be missing something here, because it just does not make sense. Uh oh, I thought of something Booker T. said, "Beneath everything lies economics." Could this be about the money? Of course, it could.

Another nice segue. China boasts the world's second-largest cache of foreign exchange behind only Japan. China is on pace to see its reserves soon climb past $1 trillion. China virtually controls the U.S. and has made significant economic headway in Africa, especially during the past 25 years. Consider the trade deficit with China, the rise of the euro and the fall of the dollar, the manipulation of the yuan by the Chinese, the escalating oil consumption by China, and the sheer power ensconced in China's 1.3 billion consumers. They tell me even the stone for the MLK Memorial will be imported from China!

Because China loves black folks, according to Yang Zhou, a hotel manager in Sierra Leone, who said, "Africa is a good environment for Chinese investment, because it's not too competitive," and when you consider the economic impact of doing deals with China, especially among the heavy-hitters who have already donated millions to the MLK Memorial, the dots get connected.

But let's get back to black folks. If we want to make a Chinese Connection, then let's do it, but let's do it with some leverage. To simply channel profits to them at the expense of black artists, designers, all in the name of inclusion and the flimsy rationale of Dr. King being "international" in his reach and in his message, will not give us the leverage we need to build our own Chinese connection, one that will benefit our children prior to benefiting everyone else's.

When I saw Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson crying alligator tears at the groundbreaking of the MLK Memorial I thought it was in remembrance of MLK and what he did for us. Maybe I was wrong. Could their tears have been in response to the most of the funds being collected for the memorial going to China rather than to black folks?

As usual, black folks get to participate in the emotional side of things, putting shovels in the ground, making speeches, and crying, while other folks stay in the background waiting for the money to start rolling out. We get excited about the sizzle, and they dine sumptuously on the steak. Please, stop the madness and Bring Back Black! (link removed).

[SunWuKong]

The Chinese connection, 'N-Word Brown' sofas and momuments

Blackonomics

By James Clingman

.....


god, get over it. it wasn't the president of China that selected a Chinese sculptor for the job. who's in charge of the project in the first place? was it black people or white people, or Asian people that selected Lei Yixin for the job? now all of a sudden it's "Communist China" this and "Communist China" that. point the finger where it belongs - the people in charge of the project. do they expect Lei Yixin to turn down a prominent project like this? what professional sculptor would?

and get real, the people hauling the stones around aren't going to be black. they're going to be Latino.

[Geese]

MLK is the poster boy of how to dodge a racial topic. I have noticed that no one is paying attention to growing attacks by Black Africans on Chinese businesses in Africa. As for the MLK monument... he is just a token of escapism, it is sad to see how he could be gunned down and unable to speak for himself and here comes everybody to put him out on front street as a token Black.

It's just as bad as Rosa Parks being interred up on the Hill when she made it clear that she had no love whatsoever for anything associated with Capitol Hill, large ceremonies and such. Condi Rice and Colin Powell have played their parts well...
Pathetic.

[tripostrophe]

MLK is the poster boy of how to dodge a racial topic. I have noticed that no one is paying attention to growing attacks by Black Africans on Chinese businesses in Africa. As for the MLK monument... he is just a token of escapism, it is sad to see how he could be gunned down and unable to speak for himself and here comes everybody to put him out on front street as a token Black.

It's just as bad as Rosa Parks being interred up on the Hill when she made it clear that she had no love whatsoever for anything associated with Capitol Hill, large ceremonies and such. Condi Rice and Colin Powell have played their parts well...
Pathetic.

??? Could you link to some articles on the atks against Chinese businesses in Af? Didn't know about that...and do you know what the roots of it are? I see your point with the image's historical power sort of acting as a salve for the problems of today, but...I dunno.

[Golden Monkey]

As for the MLK monument... he is just a token of escapism, it is sad to see how he could be gunned down and unable to speak for himself and here comes everybody to put him out on front street as a token Black.

MLK is way past the "token" stage. I don't think you can be a "token" when you are viewed as basically the Second Coming of Jesus.

Unless you consider Jesus to be a "token" Jew.

Bottom line is he doesn't deserve to be the ONLY American with a national holiday or to have a monument to him on The Mall.

But I agree with what I think you might mean in not glorifying one person but focus instead on larger systemic issues.

[VV o n g B a]

new development in the memorial sculpting. apparently the federal arts commission thinks the statue is coming out to be too confrontational and commie. i guess angry-black-preacher-phobia is really hitting them. if u actually look at the 2 pics in the story, the large pic does seem rather imposing. but if u see the smaller representation, it doesn't look nearly as imposing b/c king's hands aren't held rigidly. he also looks blasian to me in the smaller depiction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803142.html?sid=ST2008050803214

[Paradox]

I figured as much. It's hard to do anything against the ultimate U.S. minority race card..the black evangelical preacher man and his media cohorts.

[applehead]

new development in the memorial sculpting. apparently the federal arts commission thinks the statue is coming out to be too confrontational and commie. i guess angry-black-preacher-phobia is really hitting them. if u actually look at the 2 pics in the story, the large pic does seem rather imposing. but if u see the smaller representation, it doesn't look nearly as imposing b/c king's hands aren't held rigidly. he also looks blasian to me in the smaller depiction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803142.html?sid=ST2008050803214

i don't know much about art but that's ugly.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Yea you gotta admit he does look kinda grumpy and pissed off. The fact that his arms are crossed just adds to it.

[haplesshobo]

new development in the memorial sculpting. apparently the federal arts commission thinks the statue is coming out to be too confrontational and commie.

They should just scrap the MLK memorial, and replace it with a shrine to Obama. After all, it really doesn't really matter what he's done so far cause he's got the potential to be the greatest president evah.

[deez nuts]

We also need a shrine to Rev Wright.

[Thaddaeus]

We also need a shrine to Rev Wright.

hahhahaaaaaaaa

this is a disgrace to MLK's legacy. someone should slap jesse jackson.

[mndeg]

author of the article doesn't seem very educated or well travelled

[didu]

Yea you gotta admit he does look kinda grumpy and pissed off. The fact that his arms are crossed just adds to it.

do you reckon they should've added some sort of bling or nba jersey to make it look more relaxed?