*What tha …?!
The photo of the bust above is supposed to be of Martin Luther King Jr., but you’d be seriously hard-pressed to find many people who think it looks like him (see a photo of Dr. King below).
As such, more than 6,000 people have signed a petition in Buffalo, NY, calling for the statue honoring MLK. to be replaced with a more realistic likeness of the late civil rights icon.
via The Root:
The push to replace the statue is being organized by Samuel A. Herbert, who says he has collected more than 6,000 signatures calling for the statue to be replaced, writes The Buffalo News. He began collecting the signatures for the petition on MLK day this year.
Created by a black artist, John Woodrow Wilson, the 8-foot-tall bronze bust has looked over MLK Park since 1983. As the Buffalo News reports, the statue was not intended to look like Dr. King, but rather, as an “every man” that “young black men and others” could identify with.
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Activist seeks to replace 8-foot bust of Martin Luther King Jr. that he says doesn’t look like the civil rights icon. https://t.co/QAlNIuMeEi
— AP Eastern US (@APEastRegion) October 23, 2018
Herbert said a woman shouted ‘We’ve been robbed!’ once she saw the sculpture.
While some are pleased with the statue, others feel it’s inadequate.
According to the report, one of Wilson’s sketches strongly resembles Dr. King, suggesting that a more realistic depiction was considered at some point.
Herbert says he donated money to help complete the sculpture — and was just as disappointed when he saw it.
“Dr. King was born on American soil. Dr. King was born as a black man,” Herbert said. “As an American, he is deserving to have a statue that looks just like him.”
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UNSW is proud to unveil Australia’s first public statue of Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr. The bronze bust will be displayed at the Library Lawn alongside two of the world’s best-known human rights champions, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. https://t.co/keIgjmY7uL pic.twitter.com/nXcffmt0hN
— UNSW (@UNSW) October 19, 2018
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