"Dead men make such convenient Heroes.
They cannot rise to challenge the images
We would fashion from their Lives.
It is easier to build monuments
Than to make a better world.
So now that he is safely dead,
We, with eased consciences, will
Teach our children that he was a great man,
Knowing that the cause for which he
Lived is still a cause
And the dream for which he died
Is still a dream. (Hines 1987, 468)."
I too wonder what people think about when they visit such monuments. I happen to think people are motivated to visit the mall because of revisionist or romantic notions of history. (i.e. Glen Beck's 'Taking Back [of] America' on the [exact same] steps of the Lincoln Memorial 40 some odd years after King's march.)
For instance, many if not most individuals think of King as solely a champion of civil rights; when in reality he spoke out about such issues as: quality of life for working class people, in support of labor unions, against war, the proliferation and use of unconventional warfare and sexism.
What makes these historical omissions particularly relevant is the continued assaults against those values for which King fought this electoral cycle. Don't forget that King was killed while assisting striking sanitation workers in Memphis, and not while pursuing civil rights. Does anyone else feel that Hines was eerily prophetic in writing this piece?
I wonder how conservatives such as Wisconsin gov. Scott Walker or New Jersey's Chris Christie would evaluate a modern Martin Luther King. Incidentally, a national public opinion poll shows that 94 percent of Americans view King favorably. Who are the other six percent?
Perhaps our national obsession with monuments is a form of catharsis? Maybe as Hines suggests, it's simply easier to build a nice marble(?) monument than to build adequate housing for the working poor?
(http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/26/mlk_national_monument_inspires_calls_to, nice discussion of MLK and his monument. Including the above citation. )
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