Amazing story in the Washington Post today about the building of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial . The memorial, which is being built through a private foundation but on federal park land on the national mall, includes a large sculpture of King's image. This massive statue is being assembled by workers from China who it appears may not be getting paid at all for their work. In other words, the equivalent of slave labor is being used to build a memorial to Dr. King. Here is how the Chinese workers described their compensation arrangement:
They work for a sculpting company in Hunan province and have no idea what they will be paid for their work on the King memorial. They expect to be paid when they get home.
In response to protests from the local Bricklayers Union, Harry Johnson, Sr., the head of the King Memorial Foundation (and a lawyer and law professor of course), had the balls to issue this statement:
While 95% of the work is being done by American workers, we strongly believe that we should not exclude anyone from working on this project simply because of their religious beliefs, social background or country of origin.
Well I strongly believe that MLK, Jr., a man who was assassinated following a rally on behalf of striking sanitation workers, would be incredibly offended that those who were building his image were not being paid for the work that they were doing and that a tribute to him was being used as a vehicle to undermine the standard of living of workers. That someone purporting to act on his behalf would then engage in this kind of bullshit demagoguery, implying that the objection here has something to do with the ethnicity of the exploited workers, is even more sickening.
I just sent them an email that reads as follows:
I am sure Dr. King would be very proud of the use of slave labor from China on the job.
It is totally consonant with his vision of workers being paid whatever and whenever their government or employer decides. (Oh wait a minute . . .)
This is so shameful that it's beyond shameful.
I don't know what else to say. Feel free to let the leadership of the Memorial know how impressed you are by their fidelity to Dr. King's principles.
http://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/c.hkIUL9MVJxE/b.1190565/k.A274/Executive_Staff.htm
