Recently I saw a painting of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on display in a public arena that conjured up pathos and thanatos. It aggrieved me to see such mischaracterization of Dr. King who lived with courage as expressed in his civil disobedience practice and "audacity to hope" as conveyed in his "I have a Dream" speech. I will not name the artist who produced this painting, or say where I saw it, or to whom I sent the letter below. You will know this painting when you see it, and, probably, like myself, be aggrieved. An Alert!

From: Uriah J. Fields

To: Mr. _____ _____, Executive Director

Last evening I participated in a meditation activity held in the main auditoriium of the ----------   ------.

Prominently displayed on the wall of the auditorium facing persons after they enter the auditorium is a painting of Dr. Martin Lutthe King, Jr. This painiting took my breath, not because of  its realism and beauty, but because it portrays the oppostite of who Dr. King was and is, something bordering on assassination of his character and exemplary deportment.

Because I knew Dr. King personally, having been one of the eighteen persons who with him, on December 5, 1955, organized the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) that provided organizational leadership for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, I do not hesitate to express my opinion about this painting that portrays King as being a a person possessed by self-pity, cowardice and pathos. That's not the King I know. The qualities expressed by King were courage, even civil disobedience, hopefulness as expressed in his "I have a Dream " speech during the March on Washington that is alive today, valor and the conviction that right and truth will prevail. Not a single one of these qualities is revealed in the painting of  King displayed at ______   _____.

Any painting of King should inspire, challenge and motivate viewers to embrace excellence and yearn to possess the "audacity to hope." Keeping King's dream alive cannot be done with pathos but with hope and beauty.

During the month of February when African Americans and many other Americans will observe Black History Month it is my hope that this painting will be replaced with a painting that embodies the true qualities of King and his legacy that so many people venerate.

Sincerely,

Uriah J. Fields