"They keep saying King was for everyone. I keep telling people, 'No, King wasn't for everyone. King was for fairness and justice,' " said Gilbert Young, a black painter from Atlanta who has started a website and a petition drive to try to change the project.
"I believe that black artists have the right to interpret ourselves first," Young said. "If nobody steps up to the plate to do that, then certainly pass it along to someone else."
The memorial foundation directing the project seems surprised at the criticism. Ten of the 12 people on the committee that chose the sculptor, Lei Yixin, are black. Lei is working closely on the design with two black sculptors in the United States, organizers said, and the overall project is being directed by a black-owned architecture firm.
The foundation also points to King's preaching -- in a quote that will be incorporated into the monument -- that to achieve peace, humans must "transcend race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."
"The bottom line is Dr. King's message that we should judge a person not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character," said Harry Johnson, the foundation's president and chief executive. "In this situation, we're talking about the artistic character."
Lei, designated a master sculptor by the Chinese government, is one of nine artists in the field who are considered national treasures in China. He has carved monuments to many of the country's national figures, including Mao Zedong, father of communist China.
In a telephone interview Friday from Hunan province in central China, Lei said he was honored to have been chosen and was aware of the controversy.
"I deeply understand because Martin Luther King is a hero for black Americans," he said.
