Margareth Felicia 12.

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TOK

1. Coincidentally, I am currently studying a similar topic in my English Lit Lang class—

text bias. In a way, a statue is indeed a beacon, a symbol of one’s generation. In Kelly
Ingrand Park, there is a statue called the Foot Solider because that’s what Luther
King’s followers were called at that time. There was a police officer, clutching at
boy’s shirt/collar and a dog, a German Shepard named Leo was lunging at the little
boy. With no context whatsoever, which is the way I started the podcast, I thought
the statue would be about police brutality against dark skinned individuals. And… I
guess it is. However, not the way I thought it is. Ronald McDowell, the artist behind
the statue created it but he altered the events based on what he was assuming/
thinking when he saw the real photograph. I was shocked that the real boy in the
statue wasn’t even a foot soldier and the police who unfortunately has been getting
a lot of hate mails didn’t even want to attack the kid.
2. I understood why he did this. He was simply trying to exaggerate an event which is
what people like to do. Especially when one doesn’t know the full story. The mayor
was seeking artists and of course, being a young and emerging artist, McDowell
jumped at the chance. He couldn’t help himself. He wanted to portray the racism in
Birmingham through that image—so he shrinked the boy, made the dog look like a
wolf, and villanise the cop. Even though it didn’t necessarily happen in that picture,
racism was happening in Birmingham.
3. What the sculptor did was unethical. Despite not being mentioned in the podcast,
I’m sure that McDowell didn’t ask Dick or the little boy for permission. It was already
in the newspaper anyways. But does that mean it’s okay? In my opinion, no. It’s not.
But, I do understand what McDowell was thinking. Like I said before, McDowell
simply wanted to be appreciated and known for his work. If McDowell didn’t
exaggerate some points of the image, the image wouldn’t be in the park. It wouldn’t
have so much meaning and he wouldn’t be helping Michael JACKSON with his
Thriller campaign. It’s human nature to jump into conclusions without looking at the
full picture. At the same time, even if McDowell made a press conference where he
said that the sculpting isn’t really what happened. Even after the little boy and Dick’s
police comrade joined in the podcast and shared their stories, it would be too late.
The hate is too strong and people are stubborn. White individuals disliked police
officers because they were doing what they’re told to do—help dark skinned get
education and the dark skinned hated the officers because they’re well… light
skinned. I think my ethical beliefs are simply brought up by my parents or religion or
school. To see from both sides and think on my own. But also, I get swayed by
sympathy easily so maybe the fact that the police officer was the underdog, he
didn’t do anything but got a lot of hate made me side with him.
4. I wished that he would have gone to the two people for permission. To see if they
would be okay having that brief moment sculpted for centuries. The podcast invited
Dick’s wife to explain a few things and she revealed that he suffered. Been getting a
lot of hate mails, etc. for something he didn’t do. In fact, he was simply doing his job.
I believe that if one wants to create something as lasting as this… one should really
rethink and refine, as well as put a lot of thought into it. He didn’t even refine his
rock for the sculpting? Artists, yes, should capture emotion… but events as
controversial as the Foot Soldier? It’s better to actually capture REAL emotions.