Photo by Benjamin R. Freed
Work is underway at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to remove a controversial quotation engraved on the side of the monument to the slain civil rights leader, nearly two years after the site was first dedicated.
As constructed, the monument reads, “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” But the inscription upset many people, including the poet Maya Angelou, who said the truncated quotation made King sound like an “arrogant twit.”
But the erection of scaffolding and placement of other equipment, the scrubbing started this week with the arrival of Lei Yixin, the Chinese sculptor who designed the memorial. Under gray, rainy skies, Lei said that the bungled quote has been removed, and that his team will spend the next few weeks smoothing over the affected marble and carving striations to match the rest of the monument.
The work, which is expected to cost between $700,000 and $800,000, will be paid for out of a fund managed by the National Park Foundation, said Bob Vogel, the National Park Service’s superintendent of the National Mall and surrounding monuments.
King’s full quote, pulled from a 1968 sermon in Atlanta, reads, “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.” Rather than modify the monument to include the entire passage, Lei recommended last December to then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that the quote be removed altogether rather than expanded to protect the memorial’s structural integrity.
Even with the errant words, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial has proven tremendously popular since it arrived in August 2011. It received about 5.2 million visitors in 2012, but with the 50th anniversary of King’s 1963 March on Washington approaching later this month, the National Park Service expects even more attendance.
Carol Johnson, an NPS spokeswoman, says Lei is aiming to finish up by a week before the anniversary, so that visitors will be able to see the full monument in time for the Aug. 28 anniversary. The Rev. Al Sharpton is planning a rally on the National Mall for Aug. 24.
