Professor Sudarshan Kapoor, center, briefs Yolanda King on the Peace Garden as Sgt. Gerald Richardson looks on.

Yolanda King unveils father's statue in Peace Garden

by Tom Uribes

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, 35 years ago, his eldest daughter, Yolanda, was 9 years old.

Last Monday, in Fresno State's Peace Garden, Yolanda King unveiled her father's image in the form of a life-size bronze sculpture commissioned by the university.

With President John D. Welty at her side, King pulled the black silk veil covering the 9-foot tall monument as more than 2,000 persons watched in anticipation and then applauded.

King gazed in awe at the likeness of her father, and placed a bouquet of flowers - presented to her by a member of the International Women of Peace and Freedom's local chapter - at the feet of the statue. Several youngsters joined her in front of the monument and held hands, while supporters of the United Farmworkers Union held the union's flag along with the U.S. flag.

They all were commemorating the observance of Dr. King's 70th birthday on Monday, Jan. 18, when the university and the City of Fresno's Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Committee joined forces for an inspiring program that capped four days of tribute to the slain civil rights leader.

Many of them had participated in a march that morning in downtown Fresno, before coming to campus for the dedication.

Yolanda King's visit to Fresno came the day after her made-for-TV movie "Selma, Lord, Selma" aired on ABC. She starred with several others in the drama based on the true story of freedom fighters who organized a black voter registration march in Selma, Ala., in 1965.

Her speech on campus was broadcast live by two local radio stations, resulting in coverage nationwide: KMJ Radio, 580 AM and Radio Bilingüe Inc., 91.5 FM.

King's address in the North Gym was preceded by remarks by alumnus Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante, as well as Welty and Professors Jerome Jackson and Sudarshan Kapoor. Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson presented King with a key to the city. Dr. Robert Mikell, ethnic studies professor, and Gail Gaston, co-chair of the Unity Committee, were masters of ceremonies.

Rain threatened to dampen the outdoor portion of the occasion, but instead, the sun burst through just before King pulled on the veil, illuminating and warming the Peace Garden, which already holds monuments to Mohandas K. Gandhi and Cesar Chavez.

Kapoor, who founded the Peace Garden in 1990, said that Fresno State's is the only such garden on a university campus anywhere in the world, other than one in Vancouver, Canada, which has a monument to Gandhi.

Also present to witness the unveiling was nationally acclaimed sculptor Richard Blake, an art professor at West Chester State University in West Chester, Pa., who was commissioned by the university to create the 500-lb. statue of Dr. King that sits on a 500-pound granite base.

Blake created the sculpture using a process that has been used for centuries - as far back as the Egyptian pyramid era and the Shang Dynasty in China - the investment casting "lost wax" process.

The granite base on one side lists the donors while the front carries this inscription from King's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

"Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood."