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May 2007
Last word on the statue
Well, the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is back on its pedestal so the park bearing his name is complete. I’m satisfied that the council made the right decision. The sculpture was bought and paid for; it certainly did no good gathering dust in a warehouse. It would have been a waste of money to replace it.
For people who don’t like the statue because they think it doesn’t look like King, get over it. I never met Dr. King so my image of him is based on the black and white film clip of his famous speech and one or two different photos in the Associated Press file that accompany stories about him. It might be correct to say that the statue doesn’t look exactly like those pictures but it’s wrong to say that it doesn’t look like the man himself.
I never met George Washington either so I don’t know that his visage on the dollar bill is exact, I just accept it. Rocky Mount should do the same with our statue of King. The artist, Erik Blome, is nationally known and has beautifully sculpted another African-American of great stature, Rosa Parks. He spends time in Ethiopia helping orphaned children. His heart is in the right place.
This problem is solved. Let’s get on to something else.
