(CNN) — The controversial written passage on the side of the National Mall’s Martin Luther King Jr. memorial has been removed, the sculptor said Thursday.
Chinese artist Master Lei Yixin told reporters at a press event in front of the memorial that the inscription had been removed by deepening the grooves that give the side of the memorial texture.
“All is going well,” Lei said through his son, who served as an interpreter.
The King Memorial had originally included a paraphrase from the famed Civil Rights leader’s “Drum Major” speech that read: “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”
In 2011, famed poet Maya Angelou, a friend of King, pointed out that the statue took the original quote out of context in a manner that she said made King look arrogant.
Two months before he was assassinated in 1968, King really said: “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”
Work is still ongoing on the statue. The National Parks Service hopes to have the memorial ready for events commemorating the 50th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” which will kick off at the end of August.
The work is expected to cost between $700,000 and $800,000, according to Bob Vogel, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. The money is coming not from taxpayer dollars but from a fund established for repairs.
In response to criticisms of the paraphrase, Vogel told reporters that he couldn’t think of a single memorial that hasn’t experienced some kind of controversy over its design.
“We found a really great solution that everyone thinks will work and the memorial will be beautiful,” Vogel said.
“We can get past the controversy and focus on the whole meaning behind this incredible memorial.”
The memorial had 5.2 million visitors last year.
Lei also answered a question about what it was like as a Chinese citizen working on the statue of an American icon. Through his translator, Lei said that he knew of King even in China.
“He feels that it was an honor to work with the MLK foundation to make the memorial. He has put a lot of effort and heart into the statute,” his son translated.
“He thinks that Americans would not regret to pick him as the sculptor.”
