The plan to erect a giant memorial statue of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr on the National Mall in Washington has become embroiled in controversy after it was decided to appoint a Chinese artist as the lead sculptor.
Lei Yixin was spotted by a team from the King Memorial Foundation at a discussion on stone carving in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which is twinned with his home town of Changsha. The foundation was looking for a sculptor capable of working with a huge block of granite that would become the centerpiece of the planned memorial: a 9m statue of King called Stone of Hope.
But Lei's promotion last month to the role of head artist, or "sculptor of record" has drawn heavy criticism. He replaced Ed Dwight, an African-American artist who had been in charge until he complained about Lei's amendments to the design.
Dwight said he was told that Lei had been promoted in the hope of attracting US$25 million toward the costs of the project from the Chinese government -- a claim the foundation denies.
Spearheading the protesters is a black artist from King's home town of Atlanta, Gilbert Young, who has set up a Web site, kingisours.com.
Young says it is "crazy" that the foundation could not find an African-American sculptor good enough to create a likeness of the civil rights leader, who was assassinated in 1968.
It was a "slap in the face" to ask a Chinese artist to sculpt "the centerpiece of the most important African-American monument, in recognition of the most important African-American movement in the history of the United States. We as African-Americans have a right to depict the life and legacy of one of our most beloved leaders as we saw him," he said.
The memorial is scheduled to open next year at a cost of US$100 million. The foundation has raised about US$79 million.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS