Why go to China for MLK sculptor?

Journalist Charles Krauthammer tells us in a recent edition of the Daily Herald that the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial was made by a Chinese artist in China using Chinese granite and shipped to the U.S. I was taken aback and, wanting to read a little more about the monument, found that in the planning stage the question came up as to whether there was no American sculptor, especially an African- American, who was capable of sculpting a statute of Dr. King. What surprised me was the fact that the selection committee decided the answer was “no” — no American was capable of undertaking the project!

Other sources say that many are upset that the work was done in China and U.S. artist were ignored. Mr. Krauthammer mentions that the artist has sculpted 150 public monuments in the People’s Republic, including several of Chairman Mao. He said, “It shows. His flat, rigid socialist realist King does not do justice to the supremely nuanced, creative, humane soul of its subject.” Looking at a picture of the monument I get the same feeling. Another journalist says the finished work gives completely the wrong impression of King.

There will be many comments and questions, both positive and negative, but, as Mr. Krauthammer mentions, Dr. King deserves a monument “alongside the other miracles of our history — Lincoln, Jefferson and FDR.”

Florence Smith

Mount Prospect