Architectual Symbolism and Geographies of History or MLK is in a tight spot

    This past weekend was spent at a marvelous gathering of Black philosophers at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. Free time allowed for me to wander down to Washington, DC and take time to peruse the sights. On my list was the National Mall's newest exhibit, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. I hadn't paid very much attention to the debates around the monument (facial expression, wording of the quotes, etc) and simply as someone whose childhood is chocked with memories of visiting the national memorials and the sense of awe that I felt.
  Awe remains an appropriate term to describe my experience at the King memorial.

Playing off of King's use of the metaphoric mountain of freedom, the memorial depicts King as having been hewed from the mountain of resistance and challenge to the quest for human freedom and dignity. The break in the wall is stunning as one mentally shapes the narrative around the constituent parts

In the late afternoon light one seeming walks through a darkened tunnel into an expanse of light and peace

The piece or rather the King character narrates the exhibit underlining the meaning of the monument's design and lays out the character's vision of a just world. Along a curved wall reminiscent of the Vietnam War Memorial, quotes from King's writings surround the peaceful setting.
























King stands, arms folded, though I think the arms should have shown him striding (yes, Toward Freedom) with a manifest temperment 'pon his brow.

No doubt a smiling King would have been problematic at that scale but there is a severity about him that we are not used to from the photographs of his life.

  Like a pharaoh of old (insert the crook and flail for peace) King stands in judgement of a nation too devoted to its harmful past. Yet garden like, the space invites cool reflection as the wind gently blows across the water's surface.

Twixt the Jefferson and Washington Memorial, King is positioned in the midst of the purveyors of the original sin King gave his life exorcising. It should be noted that the Lincoln Memorial is not within sight of King's.

 Though King's visage is not one of a man satisfied with what sits before him, this monument to him sits in the midst of an urban garden peaceful, reflective, contemplative and welcoming.

 The King Memorial is inviting and as I spent an autumn day their I watched all manner of citizen come and go, laugh and  think, no doubt on the man and his legacy, its transformative power and all those that are and will be touched by the ripples of it.