State NAACP joins protest of Chinese artist chosen for MLK monument
Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
State NAACP joins protest of Chinese artist chosen for MLK monument
Lei Yixin, the sculptor at the center of the controversy, examines a model of his Martin Luther King Jr. statue. MLK National Memorial Foundation photo via Associated Press
The California branch of the NAACP has joined a growing protest against the selection of a Chinese artist to sculpt the tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. planned for the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The monument, expected to be finished in time for the 40th anniversary of King's 1968 assassination, has overcome many approval hurdles in the past decade. But now it faces criticism by black artists, American granite workers and others who are angry about the sculptor chosen as the lead artist, both because of his nationality and his history as an artist. Protesters also say American granite rather than Chinese granite should be used for the sculpture.
Sculptor Lei Yixin of Changsha, China, is one of his country's pre-eminent artists and has done government-commissioned pieces of Chinese national figures. He was chosen in February by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Project, whose officials discovered him at a Minnesota stone-carving symposium in 2006.
The California NAACP is the first chapter of the civil rights organization to pass a resolution condemning the choice, calling it a decision to "outsource the production of the monument to Dr. King to the People's Republic of China, the country with the worst record of human rights violations and civil rights abuses in the world."
Lei is "renowned for his many sculptures and busts glorifying Mao Zedong, murderer of 70 million innocent Chinese, which is in direct opposition to Dr. King's philosophy and to the ideal of positive social change throughout the world," states the California organization's resolution, passed last month.
In addition to the concerns over the alleged civil rights violations, protesters say an African American artist should have been commissioned as the lead artist.
In response to the criticism, the memorial's organizers said the project is a team effort. Two African American artists and an African American architectural firm are contributing to the project.
"Dr. King was an international hero. We searched the world looking for a sculptor who could do this work in granite and stone," Harry E. Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the memorial project, said in a phone interview from China, where he was visiting for a look at a clay model of the sculpture. "I respect the NAACP's right to protest, but they need to review all the facts. There are no African American sculptors that do this type of work in granite.
"In addition, Dr. King stood for equality among all people and said we should not judge by the color of skin but the content of their character. He stood for equality among all people."
The sculpture will sit near the site where King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. It will be the first memorial on the Mall not dedicated to a president or military veteran and the first honoring an African American.
Hundreds of people have signed a petition asking project officials to reconsider their selection of the artist, and a Web site,
www.kingisours.com, was created by Atlanta artist Gilbert Young to spread the word about the cause.
Young said he started his campaign last spring after he heard about the selection on television. He contacted civil rights organizations and American granite vendors.
"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."
The three-story memorial will be on a 4-acre site on the northeast corner of the Mall's Tidal Basin. Visitors will enter through granite portals with polished surfaces and an image of King carved into granite. A 15-by-600-foot water wall will be inscribed with King quotations chosen by a team that includes Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of Harvard University's African and African American research program. Magnolias, pine and fir trees will surround the memorial. Cherry trees already there usually bloom around the anniversary of King's assassination, April 4.
Conflict over memorials is nothing new. A similar conflict erupted when Maya Lin was chosen in 1981 to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Some people said a Chinese American should not design the tribute. When the National Museum for the American Indian was built on the Mall, officials were adamant that an American Indian architect be used.
"There are constant debates over memorializations," said Jeffrey Trask, an assistant professor of Museum Studies at New York University. "Monument building is always political and highlights conflicts within society. This doesn't seem to be an issue of what history will be represented but who has the cultural rights to represent it.
"Unfortunately, we can't figure out what the impact to the visitor is."
Although the memorial was not as controversial as getting King's birthday declared a national holiday, getting approval for it took years. In 1996, Congress passed a bill authorizing it, and in 1998, President Bill Clinton signed a resolution approving its addition to the National Mall.
After federal officials expressed concern that the Mall was being overbuilt, Congress in 2003 voted to ban further building. The King memorial was among four projects already approved.
The project has raised $86 million of a needed $100 million. A number of corporations have donated cash - General Motors gave $10 million, designer Tommy Hilfiger $5 million and the National Basketball Association $3 million. Movie director George Lucas and BET network co-founder Sheila Johnson donated $1 million each.
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