Another Wake Up Call- Will Anyone Answer?

Well the Martin Luther King, Jr memorial on the mall in Washington D.C. will be completed next year. http://www.mlkmemorial.org/

This has been a long time coming. I am proud to count myself among the many very early contributors to this project.

I remember when many talented people from around the world competed to have their design chosen. In 2000, ROMA Design Group of San Francisco was declared the winner.

Being a big proponent of "Buy American", I was happy at the time, that an American company was chosen from all the competitors to honor a truly great American. I made another donation and put the memorial on the a running list I keep simmering on the back burners in my mind of places I'm going to visit someday.

In 2006 a very talented master sculptor from China, Lei Yixin was named the "Sculptor of Record". There was a little bit of a flap at the time that an American was not the "Sculptor of Record" for a monument to a true American hero but this was nothing more than a blip on the radar as far as news goes.

Even a "Buy American" proponent like myself, reasoned that while not ideal, it was okay if a Chinese master sculptor was coming here to do this. In fact, in my mental image, I could envision Martin Luther King supporting this decision given his love and hopes for his fellow man.

Early this morning, I found out that there was a big flaw in my thinking back in
2006.

A big huge stinking flaw.

Lei Yixin, did not come here to create his masterpiece.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR2010081705340.html

The Martin Luther King, Jr monument was sculpted in China, from granite from China that then was shipped here in pieces to be erected.

That's right, we outsourced not just the challenge of sculpting this masterpiece but this memorial wasn't even made from America's own granite.

Let me be even more blunt. The corporate greed that is running/devouring this country can't even take a day off to let the hardworking (probably unemployed, since they don't live in China to collect crappy wages) American men and women of this country proudly create their own monuments, from American granite, to an American hero anymore.

While I can't be sure, I'm thinking that even Martin Luther King, Jr. himself, would be incredibly disappointed in what we've let ourselves become.