Martin Luther King Memorial Misquote

Post by **Alatar** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 10:58 pm

As requested by Voronwë, I've created a new thread for this.

Washington D.C. (CNN) - On this Martin Luther King Junior day, plans are under way for a major change to his memorial in Washington.

It was 15 years in the making, cost $120 million, and now a colossal blunder.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has ordered an inscription at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. to be changed.

The line reads: "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness." But that's not really what Dr. King said. It's a misquote that famed poet Maya Angelou says makes Dr. King sound like an arrogant twit.

"What Dr. King said was if you want to say this not. He would himself would never put himself up by saying I was a drum major for justice," she said.

Listen for yourself to Dr. King's words from that 1968 sermon just a few months before his death.

"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. ( Amen ) Say that I was a drum major for peace. ( Yes ) I was a drum major for righteousness," he said.

CNN spoke with the architect, Ed Jackson, soon after the memorial was completed. He said organizers originally planned to use the complete and accurate quote, but they made a last-minute change and decided to place it on another wall.

[Reporter]: "This side was prepped for the shorter quote this. The other side for the longer quote."

"That is correct," said Jackson.

The entire quote couldn't fit on the face of the new wall, so they condensed it.

[Reporter]: "Do you think my shortening the quote that some of the meaning has been lost?"

"No I think by shortening it has become more succinct and it's easier for person to grasp his own definition of who he was," said Jackson.

Secretary Salazar disagrees, saying, "I do not think it's an accurate portrayal of what Dr. King was. The National Park Services is consulting with the King family and the MLK Memorial Foundation to come up with a plan to fix the blunder in the next 30 days.

Erasing something carved in granite is not easy, but the foundation says it's reviewing options including seeing if the whole quote can fit or using a longer paraphrase.

"We really want that not to be a distraction for anyone who comes to see this wonderful memorial. We want them to come and see, relishing Dr. King words and the vision that Dr. King had for this country, indeed the nation, with no distraction, so we will take a look and see how it can be corrected," said Harry Johnson, President of the MLK, Jr. Foundation.

The memorial was built with donated money, but it's unclear if taxpayers will have to pay to get the quote altered.

The Interior Department says that's something the National Park Service will look at during the 30 days they have to come up with a recommendation.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:01 pm

The shortened quote can be read as self-aggrandizing. The full quote is anything but.

I have read the shortened quote in contexts where the writer was trying to tear down Dr. King.

Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:07 pm

I don't think that the architect meant to try to tear down Dr. King, or make him look bad, but I agree that the misquote is significant. What I find truly remarkable is that Mr. Jackson actually had the gall to suggest that his shortened version of the quote actually improved it. It definitely doesn't, and I'm glad that Secretary Salazar has ordered it fixed. I had heard about the misquote some time ago, but I didn't know that the secretary had taken action to remedy the situation. That is good news (assuming that it actually goes through.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:11 am

Oh, I don't think the architect meant that, either. But because it can be read as some kind of egotistical statement, others are happy to quote it as if it were Dr. King's original statement.

Post by **Lalaith** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:09 am

I think the thing that strikes me is that, of all of the profound and amazing quotes by MLK, this one was chosen.

Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:11 am

There are 15 other quotes as well. The following 14 are on the "Inscription Wall":

"We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." (16 August 1967, Atlanta, GA)
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." (1963, Strength to Love)
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." (10 December 1964, Oslo, Norway)
"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in." (18 April 1959, Washington, DC)
"I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world." (25 February 1967, Los Angeles, CA)
"If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective." (24 December 1967, Atlanta, GA)
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." (16 April 1963, Birmingham, AL)
"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits." (10 December 1964, Oslo, Norway)
"It is not enough to say "We must not wage war." It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace." (24 December 1967, Atlanta, GA)
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." (25 February 1967, Los Angeles, CA)
"Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies." (4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York, NY)
"We are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." (5 December 1955, Montgomery, AL)
"We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience." (16 April 1963, Birmingham, AL)
"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice." (16 April 1963, Birmingham, AL)

On the "Stone of Hope" one side has "Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope" from the "I have a Dream" speech. The other side has the paraphrased quote we have been discussing.

Post by **Lalaith** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:28 am

Thank you for clarifying that. I thought there might be other quotes elsewhere based upon the article above, but I wasn't 100% sure.

However, I have to say that I'm not still not really a huge fan of the quote they chose, either in its paraphrased form or its original form.

Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:13 am

I agree.

Post by **Alatar** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:29 am

At the risk of being overly simplistic, why on Earth would anyone choose to use that misquote when they could use "I have a dream..." instead?

Post by **axordil** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:09 pm

Alatar--
The "I have a dream" speech suffers from being too familiar.

But yeah, if I had 15 quotes to put on a memorial to MLK, the drum major one would not make the list. It's too dependent on context--clearly someone had complained about his approach or some such, and may have actually called him a drum major for all I know.

I'd look it up but Wikipedia is blacked out today for SOPA and PIPA opposition.

Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:16 pm

As a point of comparison, there was tremendous controversy over the design of the Vietnam Memorial, with many people claiming that the design that the architect, Maya Ying Lin, came up with was inappropriate (I think a big part of that was because people objected to a person with Asian roots doing the design). Now in retrospect it is considered to be one of the most moving and effective memorials ever created. I doubt very much that time would be as kind to this archtect if this isn't fixed. Even if it is "fixed" and the full quote is used, I agree with all of you that it just isn't the right quote to highlight. Really a shame.

Post by **Lalaith** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:26 pm

I agree with Alatar. I don't think it matters that the quote is so famous; imo, that's all the more reason why it should be part of the memorial.

Post by **SirDennis** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:36 pm

Paraphrasing for brevity is tricky at times. For instance if you reduced, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly," to its essence, "An injury to one is an injury to all," the objections would be as loud but for different reasons.

From the speech V shared in the other thread it is clear that King took the biblical concept "to not be a respecter of persons" to heart. The monument quote as stated affirms that but only the meaner interpretation of the idea. To not be a respecter of persons means not to engage in favouritism ie treat some people as "more equal" than others. The way it is rendered presently suggests he had no respect for anyone other than himself.

ETA As for "I have a dream..." The thing is if we are honest about what has happened since his death it could only be a bitter reminder of what might have been. I read a statistic not long ago that in the city where MLK was born there are more slaves now than there were before abolition. It could only be with a touch of irony that that quote be applied to his monument in this day.

Post by **JewelSong** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:41 pm

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:As a point of comparison, there was tremendous controversy over the design of the Vietnam Memorial, with many people claiming that the design that the architect, Maya Ying Lin, came up with was inappropriate... Now in retrospect it is considered to be one of the most moving and effective memorials ever created. .

I remember that bro-ha-ha and the insistence that an addition to the memorial (a statue of 3 soldiers) be added.

As soon as the Vietnam Memorial was built, it was obvious how much emotional power the design had.

I do wonder, though, what happened to all those VERY loud voices about how "inappropriate" (and worse) the memorial was. Did not one person who was so forcefully opposed come out and admit their mistake?

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:17 pm

I'd look that up, but Wikipedia. . . .

Post by **Frelga** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:23 pm

The mobile wikipedia site is up. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Post by **yovargas** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:26 pm

(Cheater.

)

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:36 pm

What are these "mobiles" of which you speak?

Post by **Frelga** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:47 pm

You can use the mobile site from your desktop browser, Prim. Wiki left some other open doors, explained in the link from the black-out banner. Personally, I think a day without Wikipedia is a great reminder of how much we came to rely on free, instant access to information. But that's a different thread. Point is, if you really need to use the Wiki, there are ways.