I Don't Like It!

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the Washington Mall is finally finished and ready to be dedicated. I don’t like it!

I don’t have any problem with the general approach and the use of stone and inscriptions to portray the essence of what Dr. King stood for. What I hate is the Stone of Hope. It is a stiff, stern representation that has the look of a disapproving parent. Or a dictator. Change the face a little and it could be Mao Zedong or Joseph Stalin.

Humanity is missing from the Stone of Hope. And humanity is what Martin Luther King was all about. So Martin Luther King is missing from the Stone of Hope.

It’s really too bad. A great opportunity has been missed.