MLK Foundation commissions statue to be made in- China

[cali]

How sad, the MLK Foundation is bypassing American stone carvers and outsourcing the statue of MLK that's to be in the memorial to him in D.C. For years, Barre VT was the granite capitol of the world and employed many talented sculptors. That's dying now. And this is certainly evidence of it.

I just heard about this, but here's an article from the end of December:

"Proposed King statue proving controversial
Posted : Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:33:32 GMT
Author : World News Editor

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 A plan for a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to be chiseled in Chinese granite by a Chinese sculptor for the U.S. capital is under fire.

The Martin Luther King National Memorial Foundation is working with Lei Yixin on a 30-foot statue of the slain civil rights leader to be erected on the National Mall in Washington. But the choice rubs wrong those who think the stone should come from a domestic quarry and be carved by a U.S. artisan, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported Wednesday.

"To say there's nobody in the U.S. who could do this project -- there's something else going on here," said John Castaldo, director of the Barre Granite Association, a granite industry trade association. "The issue is, no granite in the U.S. is being considered and no sculptors from the U.S. are being considered."

<snip>
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/164763.html

[thunder rising]

1. 'Cause "everybody knows it's a job Americans don't want ... and don't get me started about the

attitude of American Granite.

[sunonmars]

2. wtf

This sort of thing pisses me off, whats wrong with our workers.

[cali]

3. nothing. And they didn't even get a chance to bid

on this project. The Foundation went straight to China because it's undoubtedly cheaper. But the best stone sculptors are still right here. This sums up everything.

[sunonmars]

4. Bastards

No excuse for that.