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Sculptor Lei Yixin's MLK Memorial Dedication Postponed in Washington DC

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
WASHINGTON DC - Master Lei Yixin, the sculptor responsible for the Mountain of Despair and the Stone of Hope at the memorial stands in front of his scultptures. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, a 4-acre monument of stone, trees and water honoring the slain civil rights leader located along the Tidal Basin, August 22, 2011. King is the first African-American honored with a monument on Washington's National Mall and the [now postponed] dedication [had been scheduled for] Sunday, August 28, the 48th anniversary of his "I Have A Dream" speech.  [link]

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Gilbert Young in About.com said…
Gilbert Young, African American painter and illustrator, created an online petition called “King Is Ours,” that is against the fact that the project went to a Chinese artist and not an African American. But he later told the Washington Post: “I would have no complaints if this was done in the United States by anyone who knows our culture, like the Asian woman who designed the Vietnam Wall.” Incidentally, that Asian woman is Maya Lin, who took a lot of heat for being of the same race of people that the United States invaded in Vietnam.
Sun Aug 28, 07:48:00 AM EDT
Ed Dwight in About.com said…
African-American sculptor Ed Dwight was quoted as saying that because Lei is not black, “he doesn’t know how black people walk, how they stand, how their shoulders slope.”
Sun Aug 28, 07:49:00 AM EDT
Ernest Britton said…
No one was surprised by the protests of either Gilbert Young or Ed Dwight, and as an admirer of the work of both African American artists, I applaud their artistry and dismiss their social criticism. If King belonged only to Blacks, there would be no place for such a monument on the National Mall in Washington DC. If only American's could understand oppression and the desire for freedom, King would not have earned the Nobel Peace Prize. While I don't know the religious background of the Chinese artist, I never the less applaud Lei Yixin's statement, "Dr. King belongs to the world" (Time Mag) because this monument, having seen many images on cable and in print appears to get it just right. As a donor, as a freedom seeker, as an art collector, I offer my congratulations to Lei Yixin and Roma Design group!
Sun Aug 28, 08:11:00 AM EDT
momazato said…
I agree with Ernest. Dr. King does not "belong" to any specific group or race. That is part of his message; we are one. So as long as an artist gets it right, that's the important thing. Although I have not seen the sculpture in person, it looks right in photos.
One factual note: Maya Lin is Chinese American and was born in the USA.
Sun Aug 28, 01:04:00 PM EDT
Richard Lacayo said…
Though it lacks both the radical imagination and the profound simplicity of Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial is the most effective monument to appear in Washington since Lin's brilliant reinvention of the form in 1982. As a work of art, the stiffly modeled sculpture of King at its center has its problems. But as a work of visual rhetoric, a device for summoning feelings about one of the greatest Americans, the first monument on the National Mall devoted to a man who was never President--and the first for an African American--gets a lot of things right.
Sun Aug 28, 03:37:00 PM EDT
Harold Jackson said…
I am in no way ambiguous about a man I consider one of the greatest individuals this country has ever produced. And the 30-foot sculpture of King by Chinese artist Lei Yixin makes him the first person of color to have a memorial on the National Mall. A fitting tribute would be for this nation to make sure he's not the last.
Sun Aug 28, 04:54:00 PM EDT
Gary Rayno said…
During the famous 1963 civil rights rally at the Lincoln Memorial, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of letting freedom ring from the “prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.” Those prodigious hilltops are built on granite bedrock once used for the facades, steps and columns of many buildings and monuments in Washington, New York City and around the world. However, the granite for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial scheduled to be unveiled in our nation's capital is not from New Hampshire — or Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, North Carolina or Idaho — it is from China, as is much of the granite for monuments today.
Sun Aug 28, 05:02:00 PM EDT
Daniel Malloy said…
The memorial's planners, led by Houston attorney Harry Johnson, were criticized for hiring Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin to craft the statue and Chinese stone masons to help build it. A couple of protesters handed out leaflets Monday questioning why Americans were not picked for those roles. Johnson has said Lei was simply the best person for the job.

His granite depiction of King is carved out of the "stone of hope," a piece that is separated forward from two pieces of the "mountain of despair" that frame the entrance to the memorial plaza. The line is taken from the “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered a stone’s throw away at the Lincoln Memorial.
Sun Aug 28, 05:10:00 PM EDT
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