April 12, 2006
District Seeks Statues for National Statuary Hall
Late last September, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton requested that the District be allowed to place two statues in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall, alongside those chosen by the nation's 50 states. That idea may soon be moving forward.
The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities is asking the public for its input as to who the District should immortalize in Statuary Hall, allowing residents to either pick from a list of 30 prominent District figures or write in their own. The list includes usual suspects such as Pierre L'Enfant, Thurgood Marshall, Frederick Douglass and Duke Ellington and some lesser-known though still important figures such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Robert Brent, Nannie Helen Borroughs and Norton P. Chipman. Once voting ends on April 28, the District will use $200,000 to commission a sculptor and erect the statues temporarily at the John Wilson Building.
Of course, that's may be as far as the statues get. A bill pending before the House Administration Committee on whether to allow the District to place the statues in Statuary Hall has yet to move, and some political analysts say that committee chairman Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) has little interest in the issue. WTOP Political Analyst Mark Plotkin is seeing red over the slight, writing today in an online chat at the Post:
These days the effective way to quell any protest or disturbance is to kill you with indifference. Nothing, except for the lack of actual representation in the House and the Senate of human beings, more illustrates our un-American status than our exclusion from Statuary Hall. If we don't have any representative people there, we don't exist. This perpetuates the real and symbolic statement of our country that there are no people in the District of Columbia.Maybe Congress would be happier if that were the case.
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I vote for Borf and Marion Barry. Or maybe Kwame Brown and Kwame Brown.
of we don't have any representative people there, we don't exist. This perpetuates the real and symbolic statement of our country that there are no people in the District of Columbia.
... nor Puerto Rico, nor Guam, nor U.S. Virgin Islands... C'mon, I think the lack of DC representation is an abomination, but this is just petty. Besides, isn't eligibility for Statuary Hall contingent on one being a "State?"
Is the voting for DC residents only? I went to the website and checked out the form and it appears that voting is open to all. Am I correct?
If so, I just want to say I think DC residents should decide, not VA or MD folks. Just my two cents.
Marion Barry!
HR!
We talked about this in September.
ehlers is from grand rapids michigan...good old kent county (i'm a former michigander) grand rapids (and most of the western side of the state) is about the most conservative place in the country. not the kind of person you want deciding the fate of things for the most democratic voting place in the country....with him, we're screwed
imgoph,
I don't think many politicians still realize that there's a difference between representing people's interests and deciding their fate for them. That, or they just don't care.
Dave Chappelle!
Duke Ellington!
i nominate the harold brazil. now there's a winner!
My vote goes to the guy from Cake Love and Blelvis.
Has the funding source for this project been reported? Will costs be paid from the DCCAH portion of the DC Capital Budget under the Public Art Program or will a fund for private donations be established?
According to the Architect of the Capitol web site:
"Proceedings for the donation of a statue usually begin in the state legislature with the enactment of a resolution that names the citizen to be commemorated and cites his or her qualifications, specifies a committee or commission to represent the state in selecting the sculptor, and provides for a method of obtaining the necessary funds to carry the resolution into effect."
see http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/nsh_coll_origin.cfm
Also, is the $200,000 sum mentioned in the Washington Post article ("D.C. Pushes for Place in Statuary Hall" by Lori Montgomery, Thursday, April 13, 2006; Page B03) sufficient for "costs in connection with the design, construction, transportation, and placement of the [2] new statue[s] . . . and any unveiling ceremony" ?
see http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/upload/statue_replacement_guidelines_1.pdf