Troubled dream

Is the new memorial statue of Martin Luther King Jr. too colossal, hulking and ... totalitarian?

By Swati Pandey

May 18, 2008

Decades after it was first proposed, 12 years after fundraising started and only months before construction is set to begin, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial is mired in controversy -- with some artists and art historians saying that Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin's rendering of the late civil rights leader resembles the type of art more commonly used to commemorate totalitarian dictators.

On those grounds, the little-known U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose approval is required before the project can proceed, proposed last month that the sculpture be reworked.

"In general, the Commission members found that the colossal scale and Social Realist style of the proposed statue recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down in other countries," read a letter from commission secretary Thomas Luebke, which was part of a routine review of the proposed memorial, still set to open in 2010.

It's unclear why the Commission chose to voice its concerns now, since it approves the project as a whole, and has looked at earlier versions and models of the statue in the past.

Whatis clear is that the commission's apparent reference to the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad in 2003 highlights once again the unease with which Americans have approached the whole idea of monuments. Over the years, art critics have noted the difficulty a democracy such as the United States faces when it tries to commemorate wars and heroes without recalling the hulking art of a dictatorship.

The country's very first monument on the mall was the subject of long debate about whether to include a statue of George Washington gloriously riding a chariot, surrounded by warriors. In the end, that approach was rejected in favor of a lone obelisk.

The later Lincoln and Jefferson memorials did feature likenesses of the presidents themselves, but portrayed them inside buildings, seated and contemplative or quietly forceful.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that if ever a monument were made to him, it should be the size of his desk. He didn't get his wish -- his memorial near the mall includes four sprawling parts for four terms -- but its main sculpture of the former president features him in an unimposing position, seated with his Scottish terrier.

The now widely praised Vietnam Veterans Memorial was initially criticized for being anti-heroic, too dark and sunken. Luebke, the commission secretary, noted that it was a particularly difficult case as "the first of these national memorials to armed conflict on the National Mall."

But the latest memorial to open on the mall, honoring the World War II generation, received some of the same criticism that has been made of the King figure. The Times' art critic, Christopher Knight, called the National World War II Memorial "overbearing in style and garish in design."

Would the $100-million King memorial be a second instance of bombast on the mall? Or are critics simply reading into the art what they least want to see? That seems to be what happened with opponents of the proposed memorial to honor the 9/11 victims of United Flight 93, who voiced concerns earlier this month that L.A.-based architect Paul Murdoch's design evoked an Islamic crescent. (If so, it was coincidence, not subversion. Murdoch followed the topography of the land in Pennsylvania where the plane crashed, and has since added additional features so the memorial resembles a circle.)

In the case of the King monument, critics hint at a more insidious idea: that its Chinese sculptor is somehow intentionally fashioning King as he would Mao Tse-tung. From the time Lei was selected to design the memorial, critics have complained that the artist should have been African American, American -- or at the very least not a Chinese artist who had sculpted Mao in the past.

The Commission of Fine Arts calls the proposed King figure Social Realist, but the worry seems to be about what is known as socialist realism. The latter is a label generally applied to Soviet-era art intended to honor and uplift the working class and the ideals of socialism, but evocative of oppression and intimidation to many Americans.

The commission cited in particular the King statue's "stiffly frontal image, static in pose." Others cite the folded arms (though they're modeled after a famous Bob Fitch photograph of King), the boxy suit, the steely stare.

Ed Jackson Jr., the memorial foundation's executive architect, affirmed that the Lei would consider altering the texture of the sculpture in order to create a sense that King is emerging from the stone, per the commission's request that it evoke Rodin or Michelangelo.

But Jackson, who argues that King appears thoughtful and strong in the sculpture, doesn't see the resemblance to totalitarian art.

"I don't believe the whole commission embraced that statement. I didn't take that to heart," he said in reference to the statue-toppling comment. "To view King in the same light as you would Saddam Hussein is a gross misrepresentation. I don't think the two individuals should even be placed in the same area of consideration."

Indeed, the Hussein statue that was toppled in Baghdad after the U.S.-led invasion is quite unlike the King model. Hussein's figure had at least some sense of movement. It also had a calm if firm expression, an open, raised palm and a fairly slim, rather than boxy, suit.

Swati Pandey is an assistant articles editor for The Times' opinion pages.

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Martin Luther King Memorial protest

ELBERTON JOING THE PROTEST

EGA joins protest against Chinese monument to Dr. King

By Gary Jones




An African-American artist from Atlanta said Monday that if a granite monument is built for the mall in Washington, D.C., to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., then workers, artisans and granite businesses from Georgia shouldn’t be excluded from participating in the creation of the memorial.

Artist Gilbert Young, with an endorsement from the Elberton Granite Association, said at a press conference Monday morning (MLK Day) that a process that allowed the selection of a Chinese stonecarver using Chinese granite to build the memorial to honor Dr. King is “culturally a smack in the face to American products, American history and American granite.”

Young, along with South Carolina sculptor Clint Button and Elberton granite stonecutter Dan Reed, said he has received the endorsement of the Barre (Vt.) Granite Association and Barre Master Sculptors and Carvers and now the Elberton Granite Association.

His organization, King Is Ours (www.kingisours.com), is currently staging a protest against the the MLK Memorial Project Foundation, the non-profit foundation that is working to raise funding for the memorial in Washington, D.C.

The MLK Memorial Project Foundation, says Young, is responsible for massive mismanagment of the project and he wants an investigation to find out what has happened to federal funds awarded to the organization.

Although Congress specifically stated in 1996 no federal monies would be utilized in the establishment of the memorial, in 2005 the Congress appropriated $10 million to aid the stalled project fundraisers. The foundation said the cost of the entire project will approach $100 million.

To Young’s dismay, in February of 2007, Chinese artist Lei Yixin was revealed as the project’s Artist of Record, and the memorial organization did it without even considering United States granite manufacturers, American artists or American laborers.

“Let me tell you about the dream I have,” said Young. “And that is allowing American artists to participate in Dr. King’s dream. We want to overthrow this decision and allow all American citizens with skills and resources to make a contribution to this memorial. Instead, they are allowing another culture in another country to do all the work on this project.

“The foundation failed to come (to Elberton) to look at granite from Dr. King’s home state, they failed to go to Barre, Vt., to consider the granite and the artists there,” said Young. “They should be using American stone, American artists and American ingenuity on this memorial. Instead, they are having this memorial made in a foreign country with the worst record of human rights in the history of mankind.”

Young says the notion that the foundation claims it couldn’t find American stonecutters is ridiculous.



“They want everyone to believe they couldn’t find an American artist and that they couldn’t find one quarry in the United States to get granite for this memorial,” he said.

Button, a sculptor whose family has been working in granite and stone for 117 years, said there has not been a fair and open bid process for the federal funding appropriated in 2005 and that the foundation never even visited Elbert County to find stone for the memorial.

“The King Foundation said working in granite is a ‘lost art,’ and that they couldn’t find artists and stonecutters to work on this project,” said Button. “We’re not lost. We are just being denied.”

Elberton stonecutter Dan Reed, who works with Eagle Granite, said he was ashamed of the “the fraud these people are pulling.”

“Dr. King is from Georgia,” said Reed. “And you’re going to tell me that they are going to overlook the Granite Capital of the World? I feel like this is a grave injustice to Elberton, Georgia, and to Dr. King.”

Young, Button and Reed toured Eagle Granite’s facilities at the conclusion of the press conference Monday, which was attended by Mayor Larry Guest, city council members, County Commission Chairman Tommy Lyon and members of the Elberton Granite Association.

Also in attendance was Elbert County NAACP President John Clark.

“I’m incensed and outraged,” said Clark. “They’ve allowed this work to be done by a government that allows to what amounts to slave labor work on this memorial.”

Young said that he wants the public to understand that although the federal government appropriated the funds for Dr. King’s memorial, no U.S. granite company, no U.S. granite manufacturer and no U.S. artist was allowed to bid on any phase of the project.

Vermont’s U.S. Congressional delegation has been asked to look into this matter and Young asked Elbert County’s local leaders to pass resolutions to draw attention to this situation.




Story created Jan 23, 2008 - 14:52:50 CST.

Obama competitive against McCain with key voters

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 28, 6:14 AM ET


WASHINGTON - Barack Obama has done poorly in the Democratic primaries with women, Catholics and others who will be pivotal in this fall's presidential election. Yet early polling shows that with several of these groups, he's competitive when matched against Republican John McCain.

A look at voters who have been closely contested in recent presidential elections — or veered from one party to the other, making them true swing groups — shows a significant number have leaned toward Obama's rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the primaries. Besides women and Catholics, these include the elderly, the less educated and suburbanites, leading Clinton to argue that this makes her the Democrats' stronger candidate for the fall campaign.

Yet Obama's performance with these voters in the primaries doesn't necessarily mean he'd do poorly with them in the general election, assuming he nails down the last few convention delegates he needs to win the nomination.

Polls this month show the Illinois senator leading McCain among women, running even with him among Catholics and suburbanites and trailing him with people over age 65. Results vary by poll for those without college degrees. And though Obama trails decisively with a group that has shunned him against Clinton — whites who have not completed college — he's doing about the same with them as the past two Democratic presidential candidates.

Obama is doing well against McCain with groups he has dominated in the primaries. Polls show him ahead of the Arizona senator with young people and college graduates, though the results vary from poll to poll among independents.

To be sure, Obama's poor performance with some groups in the primaries cannot be ignored. His task of wooing them could be complicated by McCain's attempts to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters and by the strong emotions Obama's long-running competition with Clinton has aroused. In recent contests, only half her supporters have said they would vote for Obama against McCain in the fall.

"I won't vote, or I'll go for McCain," said Maureen Brown, 53, of Philadelphia, a Clinton supporter who said she thinks Obama is too inexperienced. "Our options are pretty bad."

Yet Election Day is more than five months away, with tons of campaign money yet to be spent trying to influence voters like Brown who by then will be more focused on party identification and issues than they are today.

Obama's aim won't necessarily be to win majorities with the swing groups Clinton has dominated. Rather, he'll want to do well enough with them that when combined with the well educated, blacks, the young and other groups that are his strength, he'll snare the electoral votes he needs.

Women have preferred Clinton over Obama by 7 percentage points in this year's Democratic primaries, according to exit polls of voters. But when matched against McCain this month, Obama was ahead among women by 5 points in the Gallup Poll, 13 points in a poll by Quinnipiac University and 20 points in a survey by CBS News and The New York Times.

"I don't think those women voting for Hillary Clinton in the primaries will find John McCain more attractive" than Obama, said Mark Watts, a Democratic pollster.

Women voted for John Kerry by just 3 points in the 2004 general election, but favored fellow Democrats Al Gore in 2000 and Bill Clinton in 1996 by larger margins.

White women are especially in play in November, and they have voted for Hillary Clinton over Obama by a decisive 24 points. Polling this month shows mixed results over whether Obama or McCain is ahead with this group.

They leaned solidly toward President Bush in 2004, split about evenly between Bush and Gore in 2000, and tilted slightly toward President Clinton in 1996.

In addition:

_Though Obama trails Hillary Clinton by 25 points among Catholics in the primaries, he and McCain are dividing them about evenly in national polls. Catholics, a quarter of the 2004 electorate, backed Bush narrowly that year, leaned slightly to Gore in 2000 and heavily toward President Clinton in 1996.

_Obama leads McCain slightly among suburban residents, though he narrowly trailed Hillary Clinton with these voters. This group was nearly half of all voters in 2004 and favored Bush slightly that year and in 2000, while President Clinton had the edge in 1996.

_People without college degrees are tilting toward Obama over McCain, even though they have preferred Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Whites who haven't finished college have favored Clinton over Obama in the primaries by 30 points, and prefer McCain over Obama, by up to 20 points in the Gallup Poll. Yet that's in the range of recent Democratic losses with this group — Bush won them by 23 points in 2004 and 17 points in 2000, while GOP candidate Bob Dole won them narrowly in 1996.

_Obama trails Clinton by 24 points among voters age 65 and older. McCain is well ahead of Obama in the Gallup and Quinnipiac polls, but they're about even in the CBS/Times poll. The elderly leaned by small margins toward Bush in 2004, Gore in 2000 and President Clinton in 1996.

For Republicans who have long dominated among men and whites, the place you start looking to capture votes from Democrats is those who have stayed with Hillary Clinton and culturally conservative Democrats, like working-class white voters, said GOP pollster Neil Newhouse.

In an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll last month, about a quarter of Clinton supporters and one in six white Democrats who have not finished college said they would back McCain should Obama be the Democratic nominee, with roughly a quarter of each undecided.

"That provides us with a target-rich environment," Newhouse said.

The exit poll data is based on responses from more than 44,000 voters in 33 states that have held Democratic primaries this year; nearly 14,000 people who voted nationally in 2004; about 13,000 who voted in 2000; and about 16,000 who voted in 1996. The margin of sampling error for each was plus or minus 1 percentage point, larger for some subgroups. Also included were figures from national polls conducted this month by Quinnipiac, Gallup , and CBS with the Times.

___

Associated Press Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

Culver City-Laughlin tour bus crashes

1 dies, 21 hurt as Culver City-Laughlin tour bus crashes
The charter bus operated by Royal American veered from the highway into a dirt median, overturned and skidded 100 feet, officials say. A Los Angeles woman was ejected and died at the scene.

Firefighters stand beside a bus that crashed on Interstate 40 outside of Barstow, Ca., killing a female passenger. (Courtesy of the San Bernadino County Fire Department / May 17, 2008)



By Deborah Schoch Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 18, 2008

Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post comment Text size: One woman died and 21 others were injured when a tour bus en route from Culver City to Laughlin, Nev., overturned Saturday on an isolated stretch of Interstate 40 in the Mojave Desert, officials said.

Six helicopters and at least nine emergency vehicles, some recruited from nearby military bases, shuttled injured passengers to area hospitals.

Eight of the victims were severely hurt and 13 others suffered minor to moderate injuries. Most or all were from West Los Angeles, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

Faith Creer, 31, of Los Angeles, died at the scene when she was ejected from the bus after it veered from the highway onto the dirt median, toppled on its side and skidded 100 feet, said CHP Officer Taj Johnson.


Fatal bus crash Photo Some passengers escaped by crawling through the frame of the shattered front windshield, aided by other passengers and drivers who pulled over at the scene, where temperatures soared to 101 degrees.

The identities of the others on the bus were not released, but San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez said they boarded the charter at Fox Hills Mall in Culver City. The bus was operated by Royal American Tours & Charter of Glendale, she said. Company officials could not be reached for comment.

Creer's mother said her daughter was on a casino trip, and another relative said she was traveling with her husband.

The crash occurred shortly before 11 a.m. on the eastbound lanes of I-40 about 40 miles east of Barstow and 132 miles west of Laughlin.

The bus was traveling in the left lane about 70 mph when it drifted about 40 feet onto the dirt median, Johnson said. The speed limit is 70 mph on the stretch of highway.

"We don't know why he allowed it to drift," Johnson said. "The driver himself didn't know why it drifted."

As the driver tried steering back onto the pavement, the bus fishtailed, overturned and skidded on its side, Johnson said.

"It's pretty torn up," Martinez said. "It was laying on the driver's side. The front windshield was out."

Six passengers were admitted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, including four who were airlifted there, a hospital official said. One passenger was unharmed, officials said.

About 20 relatives and friends of the victims waited inside the hospital and near the emergency room Saturday evening. Some were crying. Others tried to comfort one another. Most said they were too anxious and emotional to talk.

Two more victims were at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, one in critical condition, the other stable. Three were at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley.

Three other passengers were treated for minor injuries at Colorado River Medical Center in Needles, Calif.

Fort Irwin and the Marine Corps Logistics Base near Barstow sent rescue vehicles.

The eastbound lanes of I-40 were closed and traffic was diverted to side roads, Martinez said. The CHP is investigating the cause of the accident.

No other vehicles were involved.

Royal American Tours, founded in 2002 by Madanyan Enterprises Inc., transports passengers for tour operators, employers, casino trips, senior centers and other groups, according to the company website.

In December 2005, a Royal American bus filled with passengers burst into flames on Interstate 10 on its way to a casino in Indio, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. The bus was destroyed, but no passengers were injured, the newspaper reported.

In the last five years, at least three tour buses owned by other companies have been involved in accidents in the desert, according to news reports.

At least one man died and more than 50 people were injured in March 2005 when a tour bus bound for an Indio casino collided with a fire engine on I-10.

Nineteen people were hurt in September 2004 when a Las Vegas-bound tour bus overturned in a thunderstorm on Interstate 15.

About 100 people were injured in March 2003 when a tour bus bound from Las Vegas to Los Angeles crashed into another bus in a construction zone along I-15.

deborah.schoch@latimes.com

Times staff writers Phil Willon, Jean-Paul Renaud and James S. Kim contributed to this report.

John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama

A Request from John Edwards

Obama Fights Back Against Bush-McCain

Obama Fights Back Against Bush-McCain

Raw Video: Man Attacks Bus Driver

Police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are searching for a man wearing a bandana, with his face covered, who boarded a city bus and brazenly attacked the driver, causing the bus to crash. (May 16)

MILWAUKEE - Someone attacked a Milwaukee bus driver at 60th and Silver Spring Wednesday afternoon.

The sheriff's department says the man got on the bus...asked the driver "remember me?” Then, the man started beating up the driver.

He then stepped on the driver's foot, which was on the gas pedal and turned the wheel. The bus veered across the street and hit a tree.

The driver received minor injuries.

The man who attacked him fled on foot.

He's described as 17 to 20 years old...wearing a red bandana and sweatshirt.

Edwards gives long-awaited endorsement to Obama

By CHUCK BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Democrat John Edwards is endorsing former rival Barack Obama, fresh signs of the party establishment embracing the likely nominee even as Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to give up her increasingly long-shot candidacy.

Edwards was to appear with Obama in Grand Rapids, Mich., as Obama campaigns in a critical general election battleground state, the Obama campaign said Wednesday.

The endorsement comes the day after Clinton defeated Obama by more than 2-to-1 in West Virginia. The loss highlighted Obama's work to win over the "Hillary Democrats" — white, working-class voters who also supported Edwards in large numbers before he exited the race.

Clinton campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe said in a written statement, "We respect John Edwards, but as the voters of West Virginia showed last night, this thing is far from over."

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and the 2004 vice presidential nominee, dropped out of the race in late January.

Both Obama and Clinton immediately asked Edwards for his endorsement, but he stayed mum for more than four months, even as the campaign focused on his home state in recent weeks.

Edwards considered making an endorsement in the weeks after leaving the campaign. People who talked to Edwards privately at the time said he was concerned about Obama's readiness for the presidency and his electability. Clinton worked harder to woo both Edwards and his wife and impressed them both, those Edwards confidants said, but Edwards would have had a hard time endorsing her after criticizing her so much during the primary.

A person close to Edwards, speaking on condition of anonymity because the individual wasn't authorized to talk to the media, said the former lawmaker wanted to get involved now to begin unifying the party. Obama also signed on to Edwards' anti-poverty initiative, which he launched Tuesday with the goal of reducing poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.

When he made his decision, Edwards didn't even tell many of his former top advisers because he wanted to make sure that he personally talked to Clinton to give her the news, said the person close to him. Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, who has said she thinks Clinton has the superior health care plan, did not travel with him to Michigan and is not part of the endorsement.

David "Mudcat" Saunders, a chief adviser for Edwards on rural affairs during his presidential campaign, said the timing of the endorsement couldn't be better given Obama's resounding loss in West Virginia on Tuesday.

"For Barack Obama, I think he ought to kiss Johnny Edwards on the lips to kill this 41-point loss," he added. "The story is not going to be the 41-point loss. It's going to be Edwards' endorsement."

Edwards said in the past week that Obama would likely be the party's presidential nominee and that Clinton must be careful not to damage the party's prospects in November as she continues her campaign.

Edwards waged a scrappy underdog campaign for the Democratic nomination, always outshone by the historic nature of Obama possibly being the first black nominee and Clinton the first woman. But Edwards was considered their strongest contender, even as he balanced the rigors of the campaign with the personal blow of Elizabeth's returning breast cancer.

Edwards promoted progressive policy ideas and came in second to Obama in Iowa before coming in third in the following three contests and dropping out in New Orleans, the location a reminder of his attention to poverty.

Obama has a total of 1,887 delegates, leaving him just 139 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination. Clinton has 1,718 delegates, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press.

Edwards has 19 pledged delegates won in three states: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Most of the those delegates have already been selected, meaning they are technically free to support whomever they choose at the party's national convention, regardless of Edwards' endorsement.

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Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report