Do NOT kill the messanger..
I find it odd (but not surprising) that such people would be quarelling over such issues..
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Civil rights activists speak out against location of planned WWII memorial
Copyright © 2000 Nando Media
Copyright © 2000 Scripps Howard News Service
By JENNIFER SERGENT, Scripps Howard News Service
WASHINGTON (August 29, 2000 9:12 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A proposed memorial to World War II veterans is creating an unlikely clash of legacies between America's war against Hitler overseas and its battle for civil rights at home.
The $100 million monument is slated to be built at the end of the reflecting pool that stretches east of the Lincoln Memorial, just at the foot of the knoll where the Washington Monument stands.
The plans put the monument on the central axis of the National Mall - a two-mile stretch of green space that begins at the Capitol and ends with the Lincoln Memorial, intersected only by the Washington Monument.
Opponents argue the proposed structure is improperly placed on the extended grounds of the Lincoln Memorial - the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 and where singer Marian Anderson performed in 1939 after being denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall because of her race.
Members of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, a group that opposes the war memorial site, repeatedly invoked the memories of those civil rights events on Monday during a public hearing convened by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
"In my lifetime both of these events galvanized public opinion and lifted the nation to a higher ground concerning civil rights," said Dorothy Height, chairwoman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and a member of the coalition. "While we wholeheartedly applaud and support the effort to honor our World War II veterans, we believe the proposed site for the memorial would send convoluted and mixed messages."
Memorial advocates argued the monument deserves the prominent site because it celebrates the sacrifice of more than 400,000 Americans in a war that saved the world from tyranny.
"Nothing in our history and nothing in world history is of the significance of World War II and America's role in it," said J. Carter Brown, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts. "It really is shocking, the lack of knowledge and understanding there is of this great country's ideals. We can't tolerate a dumbing down of America's National Mall."
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is one of three federal boards that will recommend whether the monument should be built around the Rainbow Pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Its decision is not binding, but will carry much weight when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt makes the ultimate decision.
Under Brown's gavel, the Commission on Fine Arts unanimously approved the plan last month. The National Capital Planning Commission will weigh in on the matter after a hearing in September. Proponents for the monument want Babbitt's approval before Veterans Day on Nov. 11, so they can officially break ground on the symbolic holiday.
The monument is designed to encircle the Rainbow Pool with 56 pillars - one for each state and U.S. territory - with a wreath hanging from each 17-foot pillar. Gold stars would fill a wall facing the Lincoln Memorial, each representing the deaths of 100 Americans. Two triumphal arches would flank the sunken plaza surrounding the pool, each representing the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war.
One member of the advisory council expressed skepticism about the design of the monument with its flat-topped pillars - but not for philosophical reasons.
"What about the birds?" historic preservation expert Bruce Judd asked. "These are stunning designs, but I suspect after five years it may look substantially different after the birds have been at it for a while."
[/quote]
The story can be found HERE.
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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!
oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
As seen in Atlanta's AJC, The Vent: "Let it be known that in this great metropolitan area that you might be able to get away with murder, but you'd better not bash a mailbox."
I find it odd (but not surprising) that such people would be quarelling over such issues..
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Civil rights activists speak out against location of planned WWII memorial
Copyright © 2000 Nando Media
Copyright © 2000 Scripps Howard News Service
By JENNIFER SERGENT, Scripps Howard News Service
WASHINGTON (August 29, 2000 9:12 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A proposed memorial to World War II veterans is creating an unlikely clash of legacies between America's war against Hitler overseas and its battle for civil rights at home.
The $100 million monument is slated to be built at the end of the reflecting pool that stretches east of the Lincoln Memorial, just at the foot of the knoll where the Washington Monument stands.
The plans put the monument on the central axis of the National Mall - a two-mile stretch of green space that begins at the Capitol and ends with the Lincoln Memorial, intersected only by the Washington Monument.
Opponents argue the proposed structure is improperly placed on the extended grounds of the Lincoln Memorial - the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 and where singer Marian Anderson performed in 1939 after being denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall because of her race.
Members of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, a group that opposes the war memorial site, repeatedly invoked the memories of those civil rights events on Monday during a public hearing convened by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
"In my lifetime both of these events galvanized public opinion and lifted the nation to a higher ground concerning civil rights," said Dorothy Height, chairwoman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and a member of the coalition. "While we wholeheartedly applaud and support the effort to honor our World War II veterans, we believe the proposed site for the memorial would send convoluted and mixed messages."
Memorial advocates argued the monument deserves the prominent site because it celebrates the sacrifice of more than 400,000 Americans in a war that saved the world from tyranny.
"Nothing in our history and nothing in world history is of the significance of World War II and America's role in it," said J. Carter Brown, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts. "It really is shocking, the lack of knowledge and understanding there is of this great country's ideals. We can't tolerate a dumbing down of America's National Mall."
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is one of three federal boards that will recommend whether the monument should be built around the Rainbow Pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Its decision is not binding, but will carry much weight when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt makes the ultimate decision.
Under Brown's gavel, the Commission on Fine Arts unanimously approved the plan last month. The National Capital Planning Commission will weigh in on the matter after a hearing in September. Proponents for the monument want Babbitt's approval before Veterans Day on Nov. 11, so they can officially break ground on the symbolic holiday.
The monument is designed to encircle the Rainbow Pool with 56 pillars - one for each state and U.S. territory - with a wreath hanging from each 17-foot pillar. Gold stars would fill a wall facing the Lincoln Memorial, each representing the deaths of 100 Americans. Two triumphal arches would flank the sunken plaza surrounding the pool, each representing the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war.
One member of the advisory council expressed skepticism about the design of the monument with its flat-topped pillars - but not for philosophical reasons.
"What about the birds?" historic preservation expert Bruce Judd asked. "These are stunning designs, but I suspect after five years it may look substantially different after the birds have been at it for a while."
[/quote]
The story can be found HERE.
------------------
God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!
oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
As seen in Atlanta's AJC, The Vent: "Let it be known that in this great metropolitan area that you might be able to get away with murder, but you'd better not bash a mailbox."
