Controversy Over Maya Angelou Stamp Quote

It seems the Washington Post has published an article suggesting that the quote on the Maya Angelou stamp to be issued on April 7, 2015 may not be correctly attributed to her:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...c_story.html

An "error" before the stamp even gets issued?

Some may find it to be an interesting topic of conversation, especially since the stamp correctly refers to her without the title "Dr." even though the FDOI cancels use the title "Dr." (Maya Angelou did not have a college degree; only honorary doctorates).

Haste makes waste.

From what I recall, the recent oops from the USPS are

The stamp showing the Statue of Liberty from Vegas

Printing the Let's Move stamps then canceling the release

And now this one.

There was also a recent controversy regarding the Korean War Memorial stamp, issued in 2002. A Federal appellate court recently affirmed a $540,000 judgment against the USPS for copyright infringement. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...n-war-stamp/

More on the controversy is posted in this subsequent article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...a_story.html

Within the past few hours, the Washington Post article is also being recited in news carried by USA Today and CNN, among many others.

In essence, it has become an embarrassment for the USPS on the first day of issue for the new stamp, especially since the USPS has acknowledged that had they known about the true authorship of the quote, a different quote would have been used on the Maya Angelou Stamp.

It makes you wonder if the recently dropped rule about waiting a period of time before a new stamp gets issued would have uncovered the problem over time and avoided all of this unwanted publicity.

Sometime ago a radio station inaccurately reported that the Maya Angelou stamp would include the quote "Nothing Will Work Unless You Do". In hindsight, maybe that would have been a better quote to use (unless that gets attributed to someone else):

http://wzakcleveland.hellobeautiful...-usps-stamp/

My Father in Law always said you didn't have to travel the world. You could just go to Vegas. That is just funny that they would use the Statue of Liberty from Vegas. The Eiffel Tower is there too.

Here's a scathing commentary putting the blame solely on the shoulders of the USPS for the Maya Angelou stamp (mis)quote:




http://thegrio.com/2015/04/07/posta...-stamp-fail/

Perhaps the error will get the USPS to reconsider the wisdom of waiting a decade or so after someone's passing to put someone on a stamp. The rush to put her on a stamp was unseemly, and had all the markings of pandering to certain pc interests. Likely, no due diligence was done for the same reason.

Let's not forget the "Athletes In Motion" stamp for the US Olympics that was never issued.

With all the media attention given to the mis(quote) on the Maya Angelou Stamp, I found this commentary rather interesting:

http://www.tricities.com/news/opini...a68b390.html

Note in particular the last three paragraphs:




Do you agree?

On one hand, I found it interesting that Linn's Stamp News readers supported the idea of recalling and replacing the Maya Angelou stamp with a more appropriate quote by more than a 2:1 margin.

On the other hand, the NY Times is reporting that the USPS has already decided they will not re-issue the stamp with a different quote.

Of course, if the stamp were to be re-issued, there would be an outcry from those feeling that the costs involved would be of concern, while there are those who feel the stamp in its present form will always be thought of as a "mistake" rather than a "tribute" to Maya Angelou.

Should this stamp be left alone and just let the media attention to it die off? Or should the USPS be compelled to re-issue the stamp with a more appropriate quote that can actually be attributed to Maya Angelou?

I'm curious about your thoughts.

I heard on the news that the family of the person the quote is attributed to is not going to raise a concern about it.

To be totally correct about this issue, the quote has been frequently attributed to Maya Angelou, not at all diminished by the fact that the title of the book that brought her much fame is "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". The USPS was certainly not the first to incorrectly attribute the quote to her, and it is very unlikely they will be the last.

Alan

Despite the original author not pursuing copyright infringement, that doesn't make this right. Not only did they rush this stamp into production instead of waiting the traditional 10 years, they did not fully research her works to identify the quote. It is an embarrassment and indicative of a "facts don't matter, lets to something because it will make us feel good" attitude.

I just hope the USPS does a little more due diligence in the future.

Being that the U.S. Postal Service issues new stamps every year, it would not be an extra postal burden to plan and release a new stamp that includes a quote that can be attributed to Maya Angelou. It would only be a matter of priority and sense of right thing to do. Maybe they will figure this out and do it in 9 years...

This is what will happen, regardless of whether it should. Our present government is not in the habit of admitting its mistakes. Instead, the standard response is to attack the critics, then change the subject.

Compounding the amusement is the article in this week's Linn's suggesting that errors are just part of the normal stamp production process.