With a massive golden cross in her outstretched hand and a tear on her cheek, Lady Liberation looms nine storeys over the birthplace of rock’n’roll.
She bears a remarkable resemblance to New York’s Statue of Liberty, but this Memphis, Tennessee, replica has a very different message.
Her single tear represents despair over the United States’s separation from Judeo-Christian values, said members of the church who unveiled the 22m testament last week.
A broken gold chain around her left ankle represents freedom from bondage. Her left arm cradles a stone tablet engraved with the words ”The Law of Liberty. James 1:25”, a reference to a passage in the Bible.
And she stands on a 6,1m pedestal that represents the tomb of Christ, adorned with a large white dove representing the Holy Spirit.
”Lady Liberation is a liberating force to the entire city of Memphis,” Sherrye Donald, a minister at the 12 000-member, predominantly African-American World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church said.
”She helps to remind people that we’re actually living in a free nation. If America does not bless God, how can we expect God to bless us?”
The 5 440kg statue cost an estimated $260 000 and has been in the works for nearly five years. The church plans to recover the cost by selling Lady Liberation memorabilia, including art work and books.
While Memphis is best known as the home of rock’n’roll legend Elvis Presley, she is a colossal testament to the region’s resolute religiosity.
Reminders of Christian faith exist nearly everywhere in Memphis, from bumper stickers bearing proverbs to T-shirts that read ”Got Jesus?” and graffiti reminding passers-by of salvation through Christ.
It’s not unusual for store clerks to tell patrons to ”have a blessed day”, or for locals to respond with ”I’m blessed” when asked how they’re doing. There’s an old saying that Memphis has more churches that gas stations.
The conservative, vocal Christianity seen in Memphis is part of the larger evangelical trend that has grown steadily in the US in recent years and which has gained strength under the administration of President George Bush.
Many Memphis residents look to religion as the answer to the area’s crime plague. With gang activity on the rise and 92 homicides so far this year, some hope the statue will help bring peace and a sense of community to the city plagued.
”It will send a message that we can come together, love one another and stop all the violence and the killing,” said Doneese Williams at her flavoured-ice stand across the street from the statue. ”Someone might be having a bad day, or might be on their way to commit a crime, and seeing that statue might make them think twice before they do something wrong. It’s a blessing.”
But there are others who feel the statue is an encroachment on public space and reflects poorly on the city.
”The irony of the thing is astounding. I absolutely loved it as an editorial of what’s wrong at this crossroads of religion and government,” said Chris Davis, a pop-culture writer for the city’s alternative weekly newspaper, The Memphis Flyer.
”If this had come from a liberal artist instead of a church, intended as irony, and the artist called it ‘Our Lady of Manifest Destiny’, it would be genius. It’s definitive of the crux of the problem of trying to turn Lady Liberty’s torch into a bludgeon of faith. It’s not a light to the world.”
Long-time Memphis resident and retired police officer Mike Stovall shook his head at the idea of the monument. ”There’s really only one Statue of Liberty and everyone knows where it is.” — AFP
