Disbelief and Disgust

A half a million dollars. That's what it's going to cost to change the King County logo. And for what? For a symbol that will be a target for racists, not to mention the King family themselves who may well decide to charge the county for using MLK's likeness. Instead of using that half a million dollars for programs that MLK would have supported, they are going to waste it utterly on a meaningless gesture that will no doubt be regretted, and that MLK himself would have been disgusted with. There are poor who need food, and the county is wasting HALF A MILLION DOLLARS on changing its logo?

I just hope the design is simple and distinguished. I can imagine all kinds of horrible efforts that won't live up to the man himself, and will only be an embarrassment to the county. But then, if we're stupid enough to waste all that money, I'm sure we're stupid enough to make a design that will look awful.

I really hope I'm wrong about this "gesture". I hope I'm utterly and completely wrong, and that this isn't the colossal waste of taxpayer money I think it is. I hope that Larry Gossett is right, and that this will be a powerful symbol... and not of how governments waste taxpayer money trying to undo the past. And I hope the folks who supported this are doing everything in their power to make up that half million dollars that the people of the county won't get in the form of other services. But I bet that the people that King tried to help the most will be the ones hurt most by this grand triumph of symbolism over real-life problems.