Another "Monumental" Controversy?

On Friday, May 9, The Washington Post took notice of a controversy involving the sculpture of Martin Luther King, Jr. this foundation is tasked with erecting. While it's certainly news, it might not hurt to look back and see if this sort of thing is really anything new. Apparently DC monuments never get built without their share of controversy.

A powerful federal arts commission is urging that the sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. proposed for a memorial on the Tidal Basin be reworked because it is too "confrontational" and reminiscent of political art in totalitarian states.

When the WWII Memorial was being built, it literally took an archivist to log all of the controversy and protests surrounding it. Take a look at this page from the "National Coalition To Save Our Mall." There are perhaps more than 100 links and stories, including to most every national media outlet, with one controversy, complaint, or another, regarding the building of that monument.

Major national media and commentators have criticized the WWII Memorial since 1997. The controversy concerns the site between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument and the design which will place walls, pillars and granite arches across the open vista."

Of course, this doesn't mean that the foundation takes any questions surrounding our work lightly. Foundation CEO and President Harry E. Johnson, Sr. has responded directly to the issue. You can read that in a pdf file available at this link - Response.pdf . And the concerns noted in The Post are being addressed.

Still another look back at the Vietnam War Memorial reveals any number of controversies surrounding the erection of that monument. The memorial's Wiki needed a major sub-chapter for them:

Controversies

• 3.1 Design
• 3.2 Maya Lin
• 3.3 Dedication
• 3.4 The Three Soldiers
• 3.5 Women's memorial

And when the memorial to FDR was built? Well, as chronicled in The New York Times, his heirs had to step in to try and diffuse one controversy involving his having had Polio: Roosevelt Heirs Try to Calm Furor Over Memorial. The controversies surrounding that memorial led to this ten page work by Allida Black you might want to look into. As you'll see, it documents how nearly all such memorials are "inherently controversial."

As stated above, this doesn't mean that the foundation, or President and CEO Harry Johnson, take the matter lightly. Everything matters when building a tribute to such a renowned man. But perhaps that's part of the problem. Monumental events and also individuals like Dr. King stir passion and passion breeds controversy. In the end, whether those controversies are themselves "monumental" or not might just be open to debate.

Finally, one truth should be clear. When completed, the memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. will not just stir passion. It will serve as an inspiration to all the people, everywhere. And the few people now directly responsible for that work cannot afford to lose site of the greatness of the man by becoming too distracted by what some might actually come to view as the smaller issues in the end.