Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial | Boston Common | Downtown

RandomWalk said:
I like it. It isn’t obvious at first glance what is going on. It inspires conversation and contemplation. That’s better than a statue of a person.
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And let's be honest. Boston has a lot of statues of people, very few garner much attention. Yes, one of MLK at the Common would be more like Washington's statue in the Garden, in terms of prominence and people understanding who and what it represents. Nevertheless, it would not be noteworthy art in a city filled with statuary figures. I love seeing our public art move in different directions. This piece is both abstract and yet directly relevant. I think it will be a huge hit, as the subject matter deserves.

lexicon506 said:
My only complaint is that the concept is too warm and fuzzy to properly honor one of the most radical figures of 20th century America.
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That's a great point. King's radicalism was necessary to what he was working to achieve, yet today we try to remember him as more moderate. It's a disservice to his memory.
 
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Martin Luther King is totally deserving of a proper monument in this city and this seems a great location. Coretta Scott King is also deserving. But this seems to be actively depoliticizing their legacy. I think a true monument to their legacy should be rooted in and encourage an honest reckoning with this city's past and present. I don't really think this does that.
It is instead almost personalized but not quite. It removes their heads, depersonalizing it completely and making it feel purely aesthetic (and just kinda off?? idk its not about modern art it just feels odd for one of the few tributes to Black people in the city, one assassinated at that, to have a removed head). That is worsened by making it the kind of shiny reflective material of the bean. I absolutely do think people will hug under this and while I don't usually mind people hugging for photos I cant help but feel that it seems a cheap tribute that doesn't live up to the namesake. I can also definitely see some performative nonsense going down here, it seems to almost invite it.
lexicon506 said:
My only complaint is that the concept is too warm and fuzzy to properly honor one of the most radical figures of 20th century America.
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DBM said:
Well, it's an Establishment production...

But back to your point--indeed, it's always worth remembering that King's radicalism has been sanitized for decades. I feel like in his anointment as a secular saint, it was decreed that everyone can learn about the Obviously Evil stuff he confronted from 1954-1963--i.e., American apartheid. But when his ambitions grew from 1964-68, and he started speaking out on endemic poverty, environmental degradation, Vietnam--the Insidiously Entrenched American pathologies--well, "that can get people squeamish." And how do you reduce all of that into catchphrase as sentimental as I Have A Dream?
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HenryAlan said:
That's a great point. King's radicalism was necessary to what he was working to achieve, yet today we try to remember him as more moderate. It's a disservice to his memory.
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I think all of these raise interesting points. It is an establishment production. Maybe we should question why a man who was once bugged and harassed by the FBI, and quite possibly killed by the state, is now celebrated by it. And why the man who condemned the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation/poverty/excessive materialism, and militarism is remembered the way he is. His message is still relevant in a city and region that has massive inequalities in life expectancy purely based on racialized neighborhoods, that is a bastion of weapons companies that inflict horrors around the world, and where the skyline booms along with displacement, along similar neighborhood lines. Boston lost Black people at the last census despite a growing population. There is a lot of real work to be done in this city to make the dream of MLK in its most radical and fundamental sense anything close to a reality.

I hope a city that memorializing King takes these issues as seriously as deserved, I don't think the form of this memorial is a great sign that they will. It seems like more of the same misuse of his legacy to serve the system he struggled against his whole life.
 
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donkeybutlers said:
...I hope a city that memorializing King takes these issues as seriously as deserved, I don't think the form of this memorial is a great sign that they will. It seems like more of the same misuse of his legacy to serve the system he struggled against his whole life.
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@donkeybutlers, from the heart: your joining this board a few weeks ago has, and continues to, enrich it.
Though I can only speak on behalf of myself: all of the critical observations you have been raising resonate, as do the underlying values. Where I surmise we might differ is on how to implement change in response to those observations and values. I often find myself being judged as less progressive than I really am at heart because I am a get-things-done pragmatist (how good is a plan for change if my children and their children live and die without experiencing it?).

Here, yes, this memorial is funded by establishment players and there's likely an underlying sentiment (as you put it with "serve the same system he fought against") of: "let's make Boston more comfortable and let's quiet down the racial unrest" rather than honoring what King was really about, including the need to disrupt and cause profound discomfort to prompt change. There is a truly sad irony if a King tribute serves to induce a superficial comfort, something King would be appalled by.

So here's the thing: the pragmatist in me sees money, a great location, and an opportunity (NOT trivial things). What good is a painful/authentic/disruptive monument that no one visits or that never gets built? Whom do you want to change with this monument: people who would already have ventured on their own to a less central corner of the city to view a painful and authentic tribute (i.e., people who's hearts and minds you don't need to change, because they're already with you)? Or, is the goal to emotionally move people who would never have sought this out on their own? In my mind, it's got to be the latter. So, to be clear: the present form of this monument does not solve the latter goal. But can it? Can an ostensibly cozy monument lure people in, and and then cause them to become moved by some stark images of reality and educated about what King really stood for? In some ways, the Boston Holocaust memorial does this: from a distance, it is a peaceful sculpture that induces curiousity; as you venture to it, it moves you with the incredible magnitude of those who perished. Can this monument be updated to include a truly moving, dramatic ground level? Or, worst case, if it can't, can it be disrupted by those outside the establishment who "add to it" so that it does? To me, the goal should be people who walk away changed compared to when they first step toward the monument; while this sculpture may not do that yet, I'm not ready to conclude all is lost. When so little changes in Boston over so much time, every potential inflection point is a precious opportunity to seize.
 
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Why MLK? I'm obviously a fan but I'd rather see something related to Mass history, like a statue of Frederick Douglass and Ralph Waldo Emerson walking together in conversation.
 
Patrick Winn said:
Why MLK? I'm obviously a fan but I'd rather see something related to Mass history, like a statue of Frederick Douglass and Ralph Waldo Emerson walking together in conversation.
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There's always a question of whom to honor, but King had substantial history in Boston (earning his Doctorate here, time spent in ministerial practice here, etc.)
 
bigpicture7 said:
What good is a painful/authentic/disruptive monument that no one visits or that never gets built?
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I don't think any monument in this spot would not be visited, its a prime location. You are right it wont get built but that is a choice by the city and should be understood as one, not taken as an inherent fact of life. That relates to many of the issues I am pointing out. The political will exists to whitewash his legacy it doesn't seem there to try to actually advance it.
bigpicture7 said:
Whom do you want to change with this monument: people who would already have ventured on their own to a less central corner of the city to view a painful and authentic tribute (i.e., people who's hearts and minds you don't need to change, because they're already with you)?
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This is in a central section of the city, in probably the most used park in the whole city, by all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons, it does not have that problem. It could be a learning experience for any/everyone.
bigpicture7 said:
Or, is the goal to emotionally move people who would never have sought this out on their own? In my mind, it's got to be the latter.
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Sure, but in this location, where any/everyone might just happen upon it, anything will be seen. The question is about the form and the message. The current message is feel good and depoliticized, while seeming to invite/ be designed for performative photo-ops. I think they could have really made a statement here, whether artistically or with explicit text (or both) and this doesn't achieve that in my opinion.
bigpicture7 said:
So, to be clear: the present form of this monument does not solve the latter goal. But can it? Can an ostensibly cozy monument lure people in, and and then cause them to become moved by some stark images of reality and educated about what King really stood for?
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My hope is that despite itself it may do that, but that is dependent upon the way we relate to it and talk about it not on it. On its surface though, I don't see why it would. It doesn't challenge the way MLK is popularly displayed, if anything it is the full embodiment of it. Its not like the issue here is anonymity, MLK is already well known what is needed is a remembering of his true legacy. That requires something else. There is no disjunction here that might make you think, any discomforting of the comfortable, but it will also likely do little to comfort the afflicted.
bigpicture7 said:
In some ways, the Boston Holocaust memorial does this: from a distance, it is a peaceful sculpture that induces curiousity; as you venture to it, it moves you with the incredible magnitude of those who perished.
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This relies on a fundamental disjunction and it is almost jarring. It appearing as a peaceful park from far away, surrounded by trees and bushes. But when you enter the austere reality of the gas chamber and smokestack comes into focus. This is quite effective at driving reflection. I don't see these as comparable.
bigpicture7 said:
Can this monument be updated to include a truly moving, dramatic ground level?
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Im not sure how, and I wouldn't want to impose some visual horror to try to compensate for the pacification and false comfort. Maybe what is needed is beyond a monument, and thats hard to know what that even means in relation to the monument, but maybe it means reevaluating city priorities in general and deliberately examining the line between expanding representation and using tokenization to avoid hard questions.
bigpicture7 said:
Or, worst case, if it can't, can it be disrupted by those outside the establishment who "add to it" so that it does?
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This is my biggest hope for it but that will be dependent upon time and effort and is neither guaranteed nor as universal as the monument will be.
bigpicture7 said:
To me, the goal should be people who walk away changed compared to when they first step toward the monument; while this sculpture may not do that yet, I'm not ready to conclude all is lost. When so little changes in Boston over so much time, every potential inflection point is a precious opportunity to seize.
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I see making those criticisms as part of seizing that moment.

Incidentally, there was a time that the Emancipation Group statue was viewed positively and as celebration of emancipation, but it was removed last year because it depicts Lincoln as a savior for objectified Black people, and thus is still dehumanizing. There may be a time in the future where people see this decapitated embrace as something of a similar retelling of history to serve certain interests. Maybe we can quicken that interval.

Patrick Winn said:
Frederick Douglass and Ralph Waldo Emerson walking together in conversation.
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Frederick Douglass will be getting a monument in lower Roxbury in Frederick Douglass Plaza, and importantly not talking to a white man he didn't have any relation to for some reason. He is well deserving both as a crucial historical figure and with multiple ties to the state. But that takes nothing away from the need for an MLK memorial, there is an extensive Black history in this city that all needs more acknowledgement. Malcolm X is also well deserving of a memorial here, although perhaps the most fitting one would be to close MCI Norfolk, where the water was undrinkable when he was there 70 years ago and it is still undrinkable today. We could use way more tributes to the Black abolitionists who called this city home, beyond the shaw memorial. A Black Panther's monument near white stadium commemorating their rallies there would also be fitting (amazing how relevant that whole list of topics remains today)
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^many great points, just want to clarify a couple of intended points in my post:
-The city is neither building this monument nor a more effective/authentic one. The city, left alone, is doing nothing. The fact that a portion of the Common is being carved out for this is because others' money is being thrown at the city for this. As much as I agree that anything placed here would get looked at, my point was that I'm unaware of another mechanism at present that is producing a rival opportunity in parallel.
-The opportunities that came to mind to make the ground level more effective would be structures around/under the taller sculpture that could be impactful. Pictures, stories, etc. on stone kiosks or similar. Those are the types of things I am referring to that would get read/looked at by people approaching without their intention of encountering them. True: not as effective as a main sculpture carrying such messages, but nonetheless potentially attention-grabbing if done well.
-Perhaps a more analogous prior example of what I mean is here, right in the middle of the greenway and would get looked at no matter what. From a distance it looks like cool abstract art, and even as one approaches, it looks like a labyrinth that kids would want to explore. When one reads the plaque, it's revealed as a genocide memorial and tribute to immigrants. I guarantee you most people who approached to take photos weren't doing so because they opted to learn about a genocide, but then when they get there they inevitably read about it via a large stone plaque at the base. I am not saying that stone plaques are going to fully save the MLK memorial experience, but it would be cool to sneak some late-addition inscriptions past the normal political process.
 
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donkeybutlers said:
I don't think any monument in this spot would not be visited, its a prime location. You are right it wont get built but that is a choice by the city and should be understood as one, not taken as an inherent fact of life. That relates to many of the issues I am pointing out. The political will exists to whitewash his legacy it doesn't seem there to try to actually advance it.

This is in a central section of the city, in probably the most used park in the whole city, by all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons, it does not have that problem. It could be a learning experience for any/everyone.

Sure, but in this location, where any/everyone might just happen upon it, anything will be seen. The question is about the form and the message. The current message is feel good and depoliticized, while seeming to invite/ be designed for performative photo-ops. I think they could have really made a statement here, whether artistically or with explicit text (or both) and this doesn't achieve that in my opinion.

My hope is that despite itself it may do that, but that is dependent upon the way we relate to it and talk about it not on it. On its surface though, I don't see why it would. It doesn't challenge the way MLK is popularly displayed, if anything it is the full embodiment of it. Its not like the issue here is anonymity, MLK is already well known what is needed is a remembering of his true legacy. That requires something else. There is no disjunction here that might make you think, any discomforting of the comfortable, but it will also likely do little to comfort the afflicted.

This relies on a fundamental disjunction and it is almost jarring. It appearing as a peaceful park from far away, surrounded by trees and bushes. But when you enter the austere reality of the gas chamber and smokestack comes into focus. This is quite effective at driving reflection. I don't see these as comparable.

Im not sure how, and I wouldn't want to impose some visual horror to try to compensate for the pacification and false comfort. Maybe what is needed is beyond a monument, and thats hard to know what that even means in relation to the monument, but maybe it means reevaluating city priorities in general and deliberately examining the line between expanding representation and using tokenization to avoid hard questions.

This is my biggest hope for it but that will be dependent upon time and effort and is neither guaranteed nor as universal as the monument will be.

I see making those criticisms as part of seizing that moment.

Incidentally, there was a time that the Emancipation Group statue was viewed positively and as celebration of emancipation, but it was removed last year because it depicts Lincoln as a savior for objectified Black people, and thus is still dehumanizing. There may be a time in the future where people see this decapitated embrace as something of a similar retelling of history to serve certain interests. Maybe we can quicken that interval.


Frederick Douglass will be getting a monument in lower Roxbury in Frederick Douglass Plaza, and importantly not talking to a white man he didn't have any relation to for some reason. He is well deserving both as a crucial historical figure and with multiple ties to the state. But that takes nothing away from the need for an MLK memorial, there is an extensive Black history in this city that all needs more acknowledgement. Malcolm X is also well deserving of a memorial here, although perhaps the most fitting one would be to close MCI Norfolk, where the water was undrinkable when he was there 70 years ago and it is still undrinkable today. We could use way more tributes to the Black abolitionists who called this city home, beyond the shaw memorial. A Black Panther's monument near white stadium commemorating their rallies there would also be fitting (amazing how relevant that whole list of topics remains today)
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I see Emerson and Douglass as the two greatest writers/philosophers to have lived in Massachusetts. Hence the suggestion.
 
Patrick Winn said:
I see Emerson and Douglass as the two greatest writers/philosophers to have lived in Massachusetts. Hence the suggestion.
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Patrick Winn said:
I see Emerson and Douglass as the two greatest writers/philosophers to have lived in Massachusetts. Hence the suggestion.
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They are also contemporaries with extremely similar ideologically, both being notable forces in the abolitionist movement in Mass.
 
gac108 said:
Why are we bumping this thread 3 months later with a response and no updated information?
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There wasn't any new info 3 months ago either. That itself was a random bump after 5 months.
 
I wonder where they got the MLK Day 2023 date from. I don't seem to see it online. I think it was originally planned to be completed this year...
 
I saw another post by a diff account also saying later this year, theyre probably full of shit.. new render I hadnt seen tho.
 
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