Thomas Lucente: Personal monuments wrong
in an egalitarian society

Unfortunately, while the threat of Hurricane Irene has put the official opening ceremony for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial on indefinite hold, the memorial will remain near the National Mall.

I realize to many that King is a sacred cow, and I risk ridicule by denouncing this memorial. However, I don't believe King is worthy of such an honor and my opposition goes beyond anything King did. In fact, even if I believed King were the greatest man to have ever walked the Earth, I would still be opposed to this monument, just as I am opposed to a Ronald Reagan monument.

It is improper for a free people living in an egalitarian society to build huge idols to individual mortals. The mall has morphed from an idyllic green space connecting government buildings to an orgy of politically correct monuments that scar the landscape.

Building statues and monuments to men is reminiscent of the tyrants of antiquity. Just as they did in ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt, the monuments in the United States are growing larger, more expensive and honoring people and events of increasingly marginal importance.

No person is really worthy of such an honor.

For example, Thomas Jefferson, one of the greatest Americans to have ever lived, owned slaves. While a legal activity in his day, he knew it was morally wrong and claimed to have opposed slavery.

Ulysses S. Grant was a butcher whose prosecution of the Civil War was more bloody than strategic. He did not seem to care about the high rate of casualties until the press began criticizing him for it.

In addition to his support of slavery, President Andrew Jackson was also responsible for the Trail of Tears and the ethnic cleansing of several American Indian tribes.

Those are just a few examples; there are many others.

Another reason to oppose the King monument is it is simply too soon.

The Jefferson Memorial did not open until 121 years after his death. By then, he was properly vetted by history and any emotions attached to him and his accomplishments had certainly waned.

If we are going to construct monuments to people, we should at least wait until everyone associated with him or her is gone. It was only 43 years ago when King was murdered. That is certainly not enough time to weed out emotionalism and judge his accomplishments with the critical eye of history. Heck, his FBI file is still under seal.

There must be a cooling-off time after a person's death before that person's life can be properly judged.

However, with King, we already know plenty that gives one pause to memorializing him.

For example, he was a philanderer who had dozens of extramarital affairs. He plagiarized his way through college and many of his speeches and books were also plagiarized, including parts of his famous “I Have A Dream” speech and much of his doctoral thesis.

I am not even going to get into his socialist political beliefs.

Then there is the China-built monument itself. The 30-foot tall, four-acre monument is the only memorial on the mall that does not honor a president or fallen soldiers and it will tower above all the others.

The monument itself cost $120 million, including $10 million in tax money and $800,000 so far to the money-grabbing King family for licensing fees for the use of King's image.

If we want a memorial to honor the civil rights movement in general, that would be great.

However, if we wanted to honor an individual, then why not Frederick Douglass? Douglass remains the most important figure in black civil rights history and there is no grand monument to him on the mall. It is a grave injustice to memorialize a man such as King while ignoring a truly righteous man such as Douglass, who, unlike King, simply wanted equal treatment and did not want special favors on account of his race.

There are also others more deserving than King, people such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Sojourner Truth or Booker T. Washington.

Perhaps a memorial that recognizes all their achievements would be more appropriate because King certainly stood on their shoulders.