Rocky Mount, N.C.
Officials in Rocky Mount, N.C., last week voted to sell the city’s statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. because it looked nothing like him. “Maybe in his younger days,” said one local woman, Wanda Durant. “Maybe his son. Not him.” African-American leaders have been lobbying for a new monument ever since the artist, Erik Blome, delivered his work two years ago. The drive picked up steam just over a year ago, when Rocky Mount elected the first City Council in its history with a black majority. Council members decided to sell Blome’s statue, which cost them $56,000, and use the money toward a $140,000 replacement.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The ‘ravenous’ demand for Cornish mineralsUnder the Radar Growing need for critical minerals to power tech has intensified ‘appetite’ for lithium, which could be a ‘huge boon’ for local economy
-
Why are election experts taking Trump’s midterm threats seriously?IN THE SPOTLIGHT As the president muses about polling place deployments and a centralized electoral system aimed at one-party control, lawmakers are taking this administration at its word
-
‘Restaurateurs have become millionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
