The groundbreaking for a new Martin Luther King Memorial along the Mall in Washington is happening tomorrow. You can see a virtual tour of what looks to be a pretty impressive creation here.
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The groundbreaking for a new Martin Luther King Memorial along the Mall in Washington is happening tomorrow. You can see a virtual tour of what looks to be a pretty impressive creation here.
This is great news. At a time when our nation is a divided house, we need this more than ever. I hope I get a chance to visit DC in 2008 or soon afterwards to see it.
This is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest Americans in our history. In many ways the location of the memorial on the Mall reflects America’s long struggle to resolve its basic contradiction and live up to its highest ideals, from Jefferson, who declared the equality of all men but owned slaves, to Lincoln,who freed the slaves but declared that he would accept slavery if it would keep the union together. MLK is the only one of the three who was not conflicted, who understood that this nation could not survive if it did not resolve these contradictions between freedom, equality and freedom. It is fitting that he should have a place between these two Americans so that their granite faces can forever gaze upon the face of the man who helped to free all Americans from their own conflicts resulting from their country’s high ideals and the contradiction and its practice of slavery, inequality and discrimination.
I’ve been wondering what it would look like. It’s good that it has a location that puts it among — equal to — the Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln memorials.
My idea would have been a statue of King at the microphone, on the exact spot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where he gave the Dream speech. King would become a permanent part of the Mall, and Lincoln would become his backdrop. That would be cool. But then, I want to see a Statue of Liberty-sized colossus of Frederick Douglass towering over the Potomac, so it’s probably a good thing I don’t decide such things.