The “Martin Luther King Jr National Memorial”, a statue and park in Washington DC budgeted at $120m (of which $114m has been raised) was scheduled to be officially opened on 28 August. The ceremony, which US president Barack Obama was to have attended, has been deferred for weeks, possibly months, because of the approach of Hurricane Irene. The 30-foot-high pale granite statue of King, carved by Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin in China, accompanies a 450-foot-long granite wall engraved with quotations from the civil rights leader. 159 huge blocks of granite were shipped from China to the United States. King’s family demanded a licensing fee for the right to use his image and words at the national memorial, and were reportedly paid $761,160 in 2007. An earlier “management” fee of $71,700 was paid to the family estate in 2003.
Topics: Peace abuse