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"World's Worst Martin Luther King Statue" - OU071D
as dubbed by journalist Jerry Bledsoe's 1984 book, North Carolina Curiosities
Owner: FailedApparatus
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Altitude: m. ASL.
 Region: United States > North Carolina
Cache type: Virtual
Size: No container
Status: Ready for Search
Time required: 0:05 h    Distance to travel: n/a
Date hidden: 2014-05-12
Date created: 2014-05-11
Date published: 2014-05-12
Last modification: 2014-05-13
8x Found
0x Not found
1 notes
watchers 0 watchers
494 visitors
4 x rated
Rated as: Excellent
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Listed on OCNA Only 

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Description EN
Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man. But he certainly hasn't inspired great public art. That dismal fact was driven home when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ordered the National Park Service to redo part of its new MLK memorial in Washington, D.C. The problem: The words on the statue, “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness," never actually came out of the civil-rights leader's mouth; they were a lame paraphrase of a more complex statement.

A glance around the nation's parks and plazas, however, reveals that Washington cannot claim a monopoly on the Awkward MLK Statue phenom. Check out this visage of the good doctor in Omaha, Neb.: You could hide a golf ball in the yawning cleft on that chin. (The actual crease on King's jaw was more subtle.) And whoever fabricated the MLK statue in Albany, N.Y., must have forged the limbs separately and then attempted to fuse them together, because the Nobel-Prize-winning pastor is stuck with an oversized, neckless head. The viewer is left wondering: Does it bobble?

But in terms of sheer what-on-earth-ness, no King statue can hold a torch to the one drawing double takes in Marshall Park in Charlotte, N.C. It is officially the "World's Worst Martin Luther King Statue," according to journalist Jerry Bledsoe's 1984 book, North Carolina Curiosities.

Who is that fellow, and what is he doing? Although King actually did make an unconventional hand gesture during his "I Have a Dream" speech, here he looks like Darth Vader getting ready to force-choke a fool. With that tensed knee and up-stretched hand, King could also be one of the martial artists in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, seconds away from soaring into the air and executing a flurry of chops and kicks. For a celebrated pacifist, these thoughts are alarming.

To claim credit for this find, post a picture of yourself with the unloved Charlotte statue of a more deserving great man.  Note:  parking can be tricky in this area so please use caution.  Please do not post a picture taken from a passing automobile.

Log entries: Found 8x Not found 0x Note 1x Picture 9x All entries Gallery