China pays tribute to Martin Luther King

**billynomates** · 09-01-2011, 01:27 PM

DID you know that there is now a Martin Luther King memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC? (Take the virtual tour!) Did you know it is a subject of controversy? Well, now you do. Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune sums up the complaints about the massive new scultpure of MLK:

Among the objections in this case, the Memorial on the National Mall was designed by a Chinese artist, carved by Chinese workers out of Chinese granite and shipped here and reconstructed by Chinese workers on the National Mall.

Why not an American artist, critics ask? With American rock? And why use white granite, some have noted, to portray a black man?

**Nynus** · 09-01-2011, 06:08 PM

Yup, a $120 million project (with $10 million being paid for by taxpayers, plus I think the land was donated from the Government), and it was outsourced to China, to be carved by a Chinese artist. Some people even say that MLK's face has an Asian 'look' to it. (I personally don't see it)

I've read some reports that value the savings by outsourcing to China at $8 million, some say $12 million. I can't find support for either number, but it's disgraceful that it was made in China, and even more disgraceful that even with transportation costs from China, that it cost less to do it there.