The Civil Rights Museum
As Feb. 1 approaches, our attention inevitably turns to the downtown International Civil Rights Center and Museum, a void on Greensboro's urban landscape that desperately needs to be filled.
People will find all kinds of reasons not to support the project. These are a few I've heard::
1. Its books are questionable.
2. Skip and Earl.
3. African American-run projects inevitably mismanage money.
4.. They built the Empire State Building in 13 months (actually, one year and 45 days). Why has this little building taken so long? (courtesy of City Councilman Mike Barber.)
5. The voters said no in two bond referendums. They clearly don't want the museum.
6. Skip and Earl.
7. It won't generate the type of interest its supporters allege.
8. Why hasn't the black community stepped up to support it in greater numbers?
9. The project is too ambitious; they need to scale it back, even put it somewhere else.
10. Skip and Earl.
My responses:
1. The books are viewable at the Community Foundation.
2. Skip Alston and Earl Jones can be politically polarizing. Some supporters of the museum had hoped that they would step gracefully aside. They won't. That said, letting dislike for these two men stand in the way of such an important historic jewel is petty.
3. I won't dignify that one with a response. But I've gotten this one from several callers.
4. Yes, Mike's right. They built the Empire State Building in 13 months. But the Empire State Building was not hurting for money nor did it involve the renovation of a building sitting atop an underground stream.
Further, the Empire State Building involved 3,400 construction workers, five of whom died during the project.
And it had its own problems. It was nicknamed the Empty State Building for its inablity to attract tenants and did not turn a profit until 1950.
5. The voters said no to the bonds, they didn't say no to the museum. In addition, some project wind up on the ballot multiple times before they are approved by voters.
There's more, but you get the idea.
6. See No. 2
7. That remains to be seen. I expect it would do well once it open, especially given its affiliation with Smithsonian.
8. That's a valid point. The museum belongs to the whole community but the black community could step up to support it in a more forceful way.
9. The museum deserves to be done right. That doesn't mean a phase of it couldn't open before total completion, to begin generating revenue, as some folks have suggested.
10. See No. 2
We need to get this thing done. There is no excuse.
Of course, Skip doesn't help when he says things like this, quoted at JR's blog.
Comments (18)
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I want to send a donation to Skip - to whom do I make the check out and to what address should I mail it -
Also can you please give me the addresses for the ministries of Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts, Ernest Angley, Kenneth Copeland, Joel Ostreen, & Jack Van Impe - I want to send a check to all of them -
Thanks -
Posted on January 30, 2008 10:20 PM
The list, I think, is incomplete. What's missing is what I would call Charlie Brown's football syndrome. You recall that Charlie Brown is always persuaded by Lucy that THIS TIME he'll get to kick it. But he never does; she always pulls it away.
Just so, I think, with majority thinking in Greensboro: no matter if we pass this bond issue, or give that donation, or send these city funds, it's just not going to happen. The money--$10 million and counting, right?--just seems to disappear in a decade-long vortex of architectural reports, further fund raising, Smithsonianization, etc., etc. To the average Joe, it seems like $10 mil would be plenty to take an existing building and make a pretty decent museum out of it (even with a leaky basement). To the average Joe, it looks like $10 mil has been spent for bubkiss. To the average Joe, it looks like the football won't be held still.
Solution: a bond referendum allotting enough money to finish the project contingent on the City of Greenboro taking total control of the project.
Posted on January 31, 2008 12:47 AM
If this is such a great project , why has private money not done this? Randy Parton There, enough said. Tax money SHOULD be used for public need, not greedy need.
Maybe you could get your paper to help Caswell County get high speed Internet for the greedy. We have many Internet companies, but little public water. Some how I got this foolish notion that water was important.
Posted on January 31, 2008 6:13 AM
Is this a worthwhile project for Greensboro? Absolutely. Should public money be used to finance the Civil Rights Museum? Absolutely not.
Museum supporters and organizers simply haven't been aggressive enough in seeking private support. They've expected the taxpayers to pick up the bill from Day One. I suspect that's what bothers a lot of people. I know it bothers me.
However, the money is out there to do this project, from individual contributions, fund-raisers, corporate donations, etc. Plenty of people would like to associate with such a worthwhile project.
Of course, the museum's organizers need to prove they are good caretakers of the money they received. There have been some questions about that, as Brian444 notes above, which are troubling.
Posted on January 31, 2008 9:06 AM
Allen, since the books are open and available at the Community Foundation, has anybody from the N&R gone and looked at them. Have independent audits been done in the past? What were the results? If this hasn't been done, maybe it's time for... RMA to look into this so we can get a totally objective opinion.
Posted on January 31, 2008 11:22 AM
Yes to every question except RMA, which I'm guessing you added for comic effect?
Posted on January 31, 2008 11:35 AM
If the books are clean and there are proper receipts for work done then there is not a problem. If the books are not good, then the people that were in charge need to take responsibilty and resign so the project can proceed.
Should these people resign there is nobody saying they can't continue to work tirelessly for the cause of raising the money. If they really and truly care about the project, why should they care if their name is on the letterhead or not?
Posted on January 31, 2008 11:39 AM
Uh-oh. You and I agree again. A sign of the Apocalpyse?
Posted on January 31, 2008 11:41 AM
It's just like the story of the two moms claiming the same child who went to Solomon. Unless one of the mom's admitted she was lying, he was going to have the baby put to the sword. The one who said she was lying first was adjudged to be the real mom.
Posted on January 31, 2008 1:55 PM
Allen Baby,
Why the hypocritical non-action on reprimanding THE LIBERAL-CONSERVATIVE?
Please explain your double standard.
If you don't post this, I'll repeat it on the LTE.
-submitted 9:58 a.m. 2/1/08
Posted on February 1, 2008 9:59 AM
I will act on that today. Sorry. I was involved in some other things yesterday and didn't get to it.
I'll also do separate posts on the letters blog and this one.
Posted on February 1, 2008 10:20 AM
Thank you Allen.
Posted on February 1, 2008 10:36 AM
Brian raises an interesting question about the city taking it over.
That idea has been floated before, but gotten nowhere.
Posted on February 1, 2008 4:41 PM
Life really does imitate art. In the classic musical "the Music Man," Professor Harold Hill descends upon the small midwestern town of River City to sell the fine, upstanding citizens on a magnificent marching band, complete with bright shiny instruments, splendid band uniforms, and best of all, a great way for the small town to rally together in the name of something good. Money was collected in advance to pay for the instruments and uniforms. Of course, we all knew that Professor Hill was a con man. There were no uniforms or instruments. There never were. There never would be. But Prof. Hill waxed so effusive that the townsfolk couldn't WAIT to hand over their hard-earned bread. So eloquent was Prof. Hill's sales pitch that he even had the mayor of River City and his cronies boasting about how fine a band River City had. "I'll put my marching band up against any band west of Chicago!" the mayor exclaimed. Upon hearing this, Marian the librarian retorted, "WHAT band???"
That's what I think about every time the International Civil Rights museum is brought up, written about or commented upon. I want to yell out, "WHAT museum???"
We don't have a museum. We have a vacant building with police tape around it. It has been that way since 1994. If it weren't so pathetic, it would be humerous.
Yes, this city deserves a civil rights museum. I'm not sure about the international part, but a city that had such a significant moment in the struggle for equal treatment of African-Americans should have such a facility.
But how long can we be taken for a ride? How long before the taxpaying citizens of Greensboro say, "enough already." You have our tax money. Where are the results?
Obviously the majority of the citizens have said, "No more." We have seen delay after delay, excuse after excuse. We've seen where the money has gone. Of the millions donated or appropriated, only a few million dollars have actually gone to construction costs.
Worst of all, anytime someone from the media asks some tough but fair questions, Skip Alston plays the race card. He even went so far to call the News & Record "the white media."
Believe me I'm no fan of the N-R, but I applaud them for asking the necessary questions regarding this seemingly endless boondoggle.
Skip Alston and Earl Jones are more than just polarizing figures. They are arrogant, in-your-face race hustlers who have a well-documented dislike for people of pallor. They don't just bite the hand that feeds them, they chomp it off at the elbow. After all these are the guys who had the chutzpah to name an annual civil rights award after THEMSELVES.
Our gutless City Council has recently caved in again to PC pressure and allowed federal grants earmarked for low-income housing to be shifted over to the "museum." So much for the will of the people.
Like another poster stated, this is an "international" undertaking. So Mr. Alston, think outside the box. Here's a list of folks you should be calling for donations:
Danny Glover
Harry Belafonte
Tom Joyner
Tavis Smiley
Oprah Winfrey
Hugo Chavez
(okay, I was half-kidding about that last one)
If this museum ever opens, I'll gladly attend. But until this group gets its act together, not one damn dime more of my tax money will they get.
Posted on February 3, 2008 12:16 PM
honestly I dont know why this is getting "national support" Where are those big fundraisers like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Oprah, I could go on and on. Especially Jesse Jackson who attended NC A&T. Why arent we seeing these kind of figures get behind this project and has there been an attempt to call them? Im sure if we could get Oprah involved, the funds would be raised in less than a week.
Posted on February 4, 2008 12:45 PM
Also on the flip side, I think if the city can dump millions into the Childrens Museum, Natural Science Center, ect, they can do so with the Civil Rights Museum. People need to understand this is not a museum for just the black community but like the Children's Museum, like the Greensoro Historical Museum or Natural Science Center, its for everyone!
Posted on February 4, 2008 12:49 PM
That's a good question on the national support. The museum has tried to solicit celebrity support (at one point Magic Johnson was a possibliity) but the going in that arena has been slow.
Part of the problem is the existence of several other civil rights museums in other states.
Posted on February 4, 2008 7:09 PM
Its just hard to believe that they cant find any well known figures at all to get behind this......maybe its because nationally the Greensboro sitins doesnt get the attention that Rosa Parks got, so people dont see this museum as being something that will attract people from all over. I disagree with that, tour buses from other states have already come through just to see the exterior of the Woolworth Building. But Oprah has local ties to this area and I think they should really try to contact her. Jesse Jackson should also be involved with this.
Posted on February 5, 2008 8:16 AM