A Chinese artist was selected to sculpt the planned Martin Luther King Jr. tribute in Washington D.C. and now the CA chapter of the NAACP, black artists, and American granite workers are in a xenophobic tizzy. Objectors have taken issue with the fact that 1) Sculptor Lei Yixin is Chinese and not American, 2) He’s Asian and not Black, and 3) He’ll probably use Chinese granite rather than American granite for the project.
A Black artist in Altanta has even gone as far as to create a protest website: www.kingisours.com
“It is disgraceful that there will be a sculpture to honor a black man for his fight against racism in this country and we couldn’t find one black person on earth to interpret his likeness,” Young said. “It is insulting and does not serve my people well. It makes us invisible.
“I do not think that anyone outside of my immediate community should have been looked at first. We need a black artist to interpret Dr. King and a black name at the base of the monument, because he died for us.”
Wasn’t it King who stated that men should not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?
Of course, memorial controversy is nothing new. People protested the choice of Maya Lin for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Apparently a Chinese-American was thought to be an unsuitable choice at the time. Ironic that the Vietnam Memorial is now one of the most iconic and beloved memorials in our nation’s capital.
I think the choice of Lei Yixin is a tribute to an amazing man who’s message of hope and positive social change reached way beyond the borders of America. Martin Luther King Jr is a global hero and his memorial doesn’t deserve to be sullied by such a parochial assault of narrowminded racism.
Other posts you might be interested in:
Blog RSS Blog Comments RSS
Phil wrote:
Lei Yixin insulted every black sculptor out there by saying the existing sculptures of MLK aren’t up to his own standards. Talk about a tribute. As everyone should be well aware, MLK was not an egocentric kind of guy, and could have offered Mr. Yixin some worlds about spirit vs the material.
Posted on 04-Dec-07 at 6:27 pm | Permalink
dot wrote:
I am not sure where you got Lei Yixin’x comment, but all the things I heard about him are great and I can tell he has try all his best to get this project. You may read more from here: http://www.chinainsight.info/may2007/may2007masterlei.htm.
I totally understand why the African American community would be so upset, but yet, we can’t have true equality in our society if we, ourselves, judge by the color of the skin.
Posted on 06-Dec-07 at 7:54 pm | Permalink
Alan wrote:
Racism is a bad seed. It spreads an unbalanced view of the world onto others. African Americans might view a Chinese artist paying tribute to an amazing person such as Dr. King, by sculpting his likeness, as a marvelous show of respect and admiration, for such a powerful person from the black community. It’s not insulting at all. I think Blacks have lost a focus on just how racism destroys. In America, most of the statues honoring people happen to be those of white men. The only time I ever knew of a public statue of a Black man, was one of Dr. King, and it became a victim of vandalism, and was spray painted over with white paint. I doubt any white artist from the south maybe some 40 years ago would even feel proud to make a sculpture of any black person. Lei Yixin is very proud to sculpt Dr. King’s likeness, and that’s a powerful message that some in the black community have failed to realize. I’m mixed African American, mixed Caucasian and a little more, or Heinz 57 to be exact. I know for a fact that far too many so-called one raced people see life only by their own reflections looking back at them in society. People associate as friends and relationships based on race. As an authentic American mix from the history of the U.S., in regards to the races in the south, African, European, Native American, I have learned in my life that I fit in with no racial community at a 100% level. And that’s a shame. So in my opinion, a person from one race honoring another person from a different race is totally positive.
Posted on 09-Dec-07 at 11:41 am | Permalink