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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2499
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 09:49 am: | 
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On the heals of the DC MLK monument dispute comes this:
Nearly 40 years after the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the museum at the site of his assassination is facing major criticism from some in Memphis, Tenn. Critics say that the board that runs the National Civil Rights Museum and its corporate members have too much power, and some community members feel shut out.
...D'Army Bailey, a circuit court judge, museum founder and ousted president, however, takes issue with the board's racial dynamics.
"We've got corporate people on the board of this museum. But if you look at the boards of their own corporations, you will find probably few, if any, blacks. So it's a disconnect," she says.
When the private foundation asked the state recently to extend its lease for 50 years rent-free, Bailey and others fought the move. The state, the group complained, was on the verge of giving the site away to a virtually private group with too few representatives from the civil rights movement, too many corporate voices and uneven abilities in handling maintenance and programming.
Bailey also has a different vision for the museum.
"It shouldn't just be history under glass," she says. "I didn't envision that this would be a facility where people could look at the past. My idea in building that museum was to provide a facility that would incite and spur people to action"...
Listen to full story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17101133 |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 10929
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 12:46 pm: |
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In death, as in life, MLK stirs controversy. Opposing factions are all griping about what they want the memorial to represent. A monumental statue of MLK can stand silently on its own. People should look at it and reflect on what his legacy means to them. IMO. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2500
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 01:15 pm: |
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Yes, Cynique, "controversy" seems to have survived the man. I have never seen the museum, but my dream is to one summer take the kids on a "Black history" trek across the country that would include it. ALthough I have to say, recreating the actual hotel room where he stayed sounds a little creepy--kinda like a wax museum of horrors kind of thing.
BTW, I note I said "heals" instead of "heels" above. Typo or Freudian slip, I wonder... LOL! |
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