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Stone of hope
We were happy to be able to check out the newly opened (but not yet dedicated, thanks to Hurricane Irene) Martin Luther King Jr. memorial while in DC. It was a gorgeous evening--my favorite time between sunset and dark.
This is the entrance out of which that middle part becomes this:
the stone of hope with MLK facing across the pond to Thomas Jefferson (a little irony?). There are a handful of MLK quotes on the surrounding interior wall like this one:
When we lived in Washington DC, our architect friend called from the other side of the country and asked me to go to a certain point on the tidal basin, across from the Jefferson Memorial, and take a few photos. His firm was submitting a design for the competition for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial that was slated to be located there and they wanted a few more visuals of the area. Fast forward a decade+ and it was really amazing to see how the memorial ended up (though not created by our friend's firm after all).
On the other side of this statue is a paraphrased quote (I was a drum major for justice peace and righteousness) that has stirred some controversy; Maya Angelou said it makes MLK sound like a twit when the lengthier passage demonstrates his truer humility. I do like the longer quote better but, of course, that wouldn't have fit on the statue.
Either way, it's a lovely tribute on the whole. Jefferson + FDR + MLK + Lincoln are not bad company for an evening walk.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Reader Comments (3)
I've decided that I live for a little irony.
I've heard about the controversy, in fact, we talked it over as a family at Sunday dinner at my sister's yesterday. I am jealous of your travels. Today for labor day, we went to see Kennecott, the nation's 2nd largest copper mine, talk about exotic:)
My family and I went to DC over spring break. My husband and I met in college in DC and we lived there right before our oldest was born. We hadn't been back together since having kids. Our three (ages 12, 10 and 9) LOVED DC. Their favorite thing (after Six Flags!) was walking around the Great Basin and viewing all of the monuments. The MLK monument wasn't finished yet but I was so struck by the beautiful words extolling sublime ideals about man and the polity at Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR. MLK will be an incredible addition. We had a wonderful afternoon strolling, reading and contemplating but I became SO depressed! I am really very disheartened by lawmakers who think and speak so ignorantly and often, hatefully. We all can be better as neighbors and citizens. We all should be better as neighbors and citizens and we should have [more] leaders who inspire us to that end. There's my soapbox for the day! A, love the pix!
Beautiful! I can't wait to see it!