Greensboro's Misplaced Priorities

I am actively trying to wrap my brain around this.

Downtown Greensboro Inc. in conjunction with the city council of Greensboro removed a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the corner of Elm Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. In its absence, it has erected a memorial to the victims of 9/11. Here are the facts as I understand them:

The bust of Dr. King was cast in concrete and had become damaged. So, arrangements were made to make a bronze cast of the original. Local metal sculptor Jim Gallucci is working with the original artist, Wilbur Lee Mapp, to create a new, longer lasting cast of the bust. I have no problem with the restoration of this bust. Mapp's work should be preserved and celebrated. And kudos to Gallucci for working with him on this.

But DGI President Zack Matheny decided that the bust should be relocated. And this is the part I don't understand. According to Jordan Green's article in Triad City Beat, "Matheny said the proposed relocation of the bust has been discussed at meetings of the Downtown Residents Association and a public input meeting for the greenway that took place at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Ole Asheboro."

Were you at any of these meetings? I know I wasn't. I didn't even know about them. Did you?

The bust will find a new home at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Bragg Street, an area known as Old Asheboro.

Now that the bust of Dr. King is gone, there is a gap where some sort of public art could be placed. What could fill that gap? A 9/11 memorial. That was the choice.

I have to emphasize the question, "Why?" The National Folk Festival is in town the weekend of September 8, 9 and 10. It draws thousands of people to downtown Greensboro. Did DGI and the Downtown Residents Association decide that since 9/11 is so close to the dates of the Folk Festival that we should adorn our town with a memorial to make us seem...American? Patriotic? Caring?

I wrote an email to Mayor Vaughan and the entire city council asking, Why did you feel it was appropriate to replace the bust of Dr. King with a 9/11 memorial? I am aware of the plans to relocate the bust. My question is why is it necessary to move it at all? Why not place the 9/11 memorial in another location?

Mayor Vaughan courteously replied:

"The resolution that the City passed was to give DGI an encroachment to install the 9/11 memorial sculpture. There was no vote to move Dr. King’s bust. The corner could accommodate both.

From what I understand, DGI and the City worked with the Old Asheboro neighborhood on the restoration and placement of the bust. It was originally in the front yard of Project Homestead in the Old Asheboro neighborhood. When PH closed is was “rescued” from their front yard. It was placed at the start of MLK drive (just outside a surface parking lot) From what I understand, the neighborhood is pleased to have the MLK bust near its original home and it will be close to the Greenway.

The MLK bust was beginning to deteriorate. DGI raised $15k from Lincoln Financial to repair and bronze the bust. It was originally a plaster cast. Jim Gallucci and the original artist are working together to make sure that the likeness is preserved.

The city has committed to landscape around the bust and light it.

Just as an aside, the 9-11 statue was paid for by fundraising by DGI and the Downtown Residents Association."

Let me add insult to injury by again quoting Jordan Green's article: "The Greensboro City Council unanimously approved an agreement to grant Downtown Greensboro Inc. an encroachment “to install the 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial Sculpture on the city’s property at 501 S. Elm St.” at its Aug. 15 meeting. The measure was approved without discussion as part of the consent agenda at the meeting, three days after the Charlottesville terror attack and two days after Mayor Nancy Vaughan, Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson and Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter spoke at a vigil to bear witness to the atrocities."

The bust of Dr. King, once it is placed near the greenway, will sit just up the hill from two Confederate markers. My throat is tightening with the ironic injustice of this thoughtlessness.

Our collective hearts are a bit tender right now. The timing of the removal of the Dr. King bust is unfortunate. The decision to move it without more public discourse on the matter is unforgivable. While all intentions may have been good, it definitely does not seem that way.

It breaks a little piece of my heart that DGI and city council did not publicize their intentions in advance of this recent manifestation, that they did not invite a wider public discourse regarding the placement of the Martin Luther King Jr. bust and the 9/11 memorial. It reeks of blatant disregard to the feelings of the black community to uproot the bust and place it near Confederate markers. It diminishes the importance of community sensitivity during a time of heightened tension post-Charlottesville.

My discontent does not rest with the erection of a 9/11 memorial. It lies, instead, in the removal of the Martin Luther King Jr. bust from downtown. Nancy Vaughan said in her email to me, "There was no vote to move Dr. King’s bust. The corner could accommodate both." So why not allow the King bust to stay?

I am really trying to wrap my brain around this.