Dr. MLK Jr. misquote chiseled off Washington monument

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Alessandra Kelley

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/u...m-memorial-to-Martin-Luther-King-Jr.html?_r=0

A badly paraphrased misquote attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is being chiseled off his memorial in Washington DC by the sculptor, Lei Yixin, for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

The quote was sharply criticized from the moment the monument was unveiled in August of 2011 for being trivial and arrogant-sounding, as well as inaccurate.

The misquote was "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

The actual quote it was derived from was
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.
 

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What's a drum major? And why is it insulting?

A drum major's the guy who leads the marching band. What Dr King was talking about was this:

“A lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct, a need that some people have to feel that they are first and feel that their white skin ordained them to be first... If you want to say I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice.”

Removing the 'if' construction makes it sound like it's a boast, whereas it's a lot more nuanced than that.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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Drum majors in the US are known as strutting, high-stepping, baton-waving attention-getters at the heads of parades.

In his sermon Dr. King was making subtle points about how he was willing to step forward for justice, peace and righteousness even if people wished to call him a drum major, with its associations of clownishness and showy triviality.
 
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