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News Release PROPOSED VIETNAM CENTER ON NATIONAL MALL IS "OVERKILL," CITIZENS GROUP CHARGESWASHINGTON, May 20, 2003 - A proposed visitors center on the National Mall to help "explain" the Vietnam Memorial is exactly the kind of unnecessary and damaging construction that Congress and then-President Reagan tried to prevent with historic legislation passed in 1986, according to the National Coalition to Save Our Mall. "The Commemorative Works Act of 1986 should be reason enough for Congress to reconsider HR 1442, a bill to authorize a visitors center on the site of the Vietnam Memorial and in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial," said Judy Scott Feldman, chairman of the Coalition. "The Vietnam Memorial is one of the most poignant and meaningful monuments ever conceived," said Feldman, an art historian by profession. "We don't have to explain anything to the people who weep as they walk down the paths lining the Wall, trace rubbings of the names, and leave Teddy Bears and other mementos to lost loved ones." Even for those too young to remember, the Memorial speaks for itself: "It is meant to be felt, not explained. That's what art is all about," she said. A privately funded center at that site would be overkill, gobbling up more of the Mall's dwindling open space and competing with the Lincoln and Washington Memorials, the Coalition contends. "Do visitors to the Wall want the contemplative environment of the Wall trivialized by trinket sales and interrupted by the crowds and bustle around a visitor center?" Feldman said. "And what about the precedent that will be set? What's next, visitors centers for the Korean veterans and World War II Memorial?" The Coalition to Save Our Mall has been fighting an ongoing battle to save the National Mall from what has been called "Disneyfication." The group argues that Congress, which set out to retain the freedom and openness of the public spaces on the Mall via the Commemorative Works Act, seems to have lost its sense of history by yielding to various pressure groups. The Act, though never repealed, was ignored by promoters of the sprawling WWII Memorial. The Act's intent was to prevent the Mall from becoming another "Road of Heroes," the way ancient empires honored their military generals, or another Arlington Cemetery. Even the National Park Service, supposed "steward of the Mall,"seems hell bent on adding questionable tunnels, visitors centers, and walled walkways, in part to harvest public funds in the name of "security." "If we want to educate our children about America's involvement in war and conflict, let's urge Congress to authorize one comprehensive Museum of U.S. Military History, at a location off the Mall, instead of constructing mini-museums to individual wars," Feldman said. "The Imperial War Museum in London is a good model to start with." Founded in 2000, the Coalition's mission is to share the legacy of the Mall as this nation's monument to freedom and democracy. The legacy extends from great moments on the Mall, such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech and annual fireworks displays, to the joggers and kite flyers who come just to relax in the embrace of history. "We are not opposed to visitors centers at all," Feldman said. "What's needed is a single center, possibly in the Smithsonian Institution, that would help visitors find their way around the Mall and grasp the unifying sense of freedom that underscores the entire two mile stretch from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial - our 'Great American Way.'" The Coalition uses its website http://www.savethemall.org as a way educate tourists, students and citizens everywhere about the history of the Mall and threats to its openness and accessibility by all. |
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