from Worcester Telegram & Gazette (telegram.com) - "Weighty Words" excerpted discussion
The Monument version of the words reads: I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. There are no quotation marks, because this “quote” has been shortened to fit the space allotted after late design changes moved it from its original spot.
Dr. King actually said: “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”
This was during a long sermon in Atlanta on Feb. 4, 1968. His overarching theme that day was the dangers of the “drum major” urge, that too much need to feel important leads to one-upmanship, smugness and other ills, and can lead society along the wrong path.
Dr. King was saying that, if he were to be described as a drum major in a eulogy (“when I have to meet my day”), he’d want it to be a drum major of a different sort. He spoke presciently as well as humbly and movingly, because in exactly two months, the 39-year-old would be dead from an assassin’s bullet in Memphis.
Ms. Angelou, who knew Dr. King and was a consultant on the project, is not one to mince words. She told The Washington Post this week that the shortened quote makes the leader sound like “an arrogant twit.”
The quote requires the “if you want to say that I was a drum major” part. Ms. Angelou said: “The ‘if’ clause that is left out is salient. Leaving it out changes the meaning completely.”
Editors hear this sort of argument often. Writers and poets will ever lean urgently on readers and thinkers to take care about intent, nuance and context. This case is a painful and public example of what can go wrong when thoughtful, powerful words are plucked and paraphrased.
The memorial, crafted by Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin, opened Aug. 22 in the beautiful Tidal Basin area of the capital.
The large statue is within sight of the Lincoln Memorial, where, on the steps facing the National Mall, Dr. King gave his most famous speech in 1963.
If the misleading inscription is to be replaced, we would suggest a quote that is certain to fit: “I have a dream.”
http://www.telegram.com/article/20110903/NEWS/109039990/1020
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