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President invited to planned civil rights museum

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

(Updated 8:57 am)

By Nancy H. McLaughlin
Staff Writer

When Amelia Parker dreams of the Feb. 1, 2010, opening of the planned civil rights museum in downtown Greensboro, President Barack Obama is at the head of the tour.

The executive director of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum and others are doing everything possible to bring that dream to life.

In Greensboro and Washington, the effort involves pleas and prayers that the first African American president will be a part of the tribute to a moment that historians say not only changed Greensboro, but America. The museum commemorates the day four N.C. A&T freshmen sat down at the segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in downtown Greensboro almost 50 years ago, igniting a movement that spread across the South.

“He has been very generous in mentioning the sit-ins in a number of speeches,” said Parker, the museum’s executive director. “We’re just waiting, hoping for good news.”

Besides the history attached to the event, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s support could be the next best thing in getting him here.

Hagan has sent a formal letter, and her office has contacted the White House about it a number of times, said Stephanie Allen, the senator’s communications director.

“She also plans to talk to the president about it directly,” Allen said. “She is absolutely hopeful that the president will come — and with his family as well.”

Gannet Tseggai, the White House regional communications manager for the South, could not confirm whether the event is already on the president’s schedule.

The Feb. 1, 1960, act of civil disobedience, in the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., gave a second wind to the civil rights movement. It also is credited with helping rid the South of Jim Crow laws that would have prevented Obama’s own parents from marrying.

An 8-foot section of the lunch counter and four stools are on permanent display at the Smithsonian. The museum’s recent renovation couples the exhibit with a 20-minute theatrical production that allows visitors to tap into the stories and the emotions.

The Greensboro museum is expected to be a blend of period artifacts, high-tech media and scholarly research into the history of civil rights in America.

It would even have a place for one of Michelle Obama’s inaugural dresses. “As we look at how the world has changed, there will definitely be a place for his (Obama’s) story,” Parker said.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin @news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

H. Scott Hoffmann (News & Record)

Photo Caption: A construction worker walks past a vintage photo of sit-in participants.

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04aggies

November 4, 2009 - 6:20 am EST

“He has been very generous in mentioning the sit-ins in a number of speeches,” said Parker, the museum’s executive director.

Generous? Like every other speech he's given around the world, he's used a carefully crafted and particular localized topic to masturbate whatever crowd he's speaking to. Is that generosity? Is it more generous when he tries to drawl it out in his fake southern accent?

I'd love to hear him try to discuss the Four without notice or prompting.

But the invitation a great idea. Odds are better that he'll fly down for some press and photo ops if you can make it more about him, though. I know it would take some attention away from the core of our history and dull the shine of the bravery and heroism of the Four, but maybe Obama could be photoshopped into the pictures with the participants. I'm almost positive AF1 would get cranked up and emitting and ready to block traffic for miles around here for that sort of adoration as long as he doesn't already have any fundraisers or golf games planned.

Hey, maybe we could seal the deal with a men-only golf tournament associated with the opening.

gso27

November 4, 2009 - 7:11 am EST

04aggies, you sound like some sort of old bitter Negro. What do you mean fake Southern accent? Black Americans reguardless of where they are from have similarities in vocal style. If there was any reason for the Preident to shun the opening of the ICRM, it would be because he differes somewhat in points of view with the so called Black leadership in America. Unlike most of the old NAACP and those who are still buried in it's outdated mission, he's posing challenging questions to the Black community without citing the "Man" as the only reason for our problems. The museum is a great resource, but the Black community needs to know it's history, build on it's progress and move on. Obama could use the opportunity to focus on challanges in the Black community and push for more personal responsibility, otherwise all the efforts of the "4" and others like them would have been for not.

04aggies

November 5, 2009 - 5:13 am EST

"you sound like some..."

Uppity? Is that what you mean? Am I getting too uppity for you? Sorry.

And I truly hope you're not being serious about skin color somehow being tied to vocal patterns.

We should be telling our children that it's okay to emulate the president's style of speech here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-9ry38AhbU
Where he says "for welcoming me earlier today" with no dropped "ing"s and properly pronounces "today".

And wonder why the same man talks like this when he's in front of a darker group of people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdYByptC8mY
Listen at around 50 seconds in, y'all, and keep on 'til he sez summ'n 'bout pawluhcee. Lawd dat man sho' can tawk.

You don't develop that sort of accent in Hawaii. Maybe he got it at Harvard? Nope. Is he acting? Is he like someone in Hollywood? He changes his speech depending on what role he needs to play. Which is the real him? I'd bet it's the one raised in private schools his entire life. The same one who talks about how great the public schools are in DC while he makes sure his daughters sure as heck aren't going to be educated in them.

I just don't like to see him playing people and using his tint for our vote.

And tell me one single challenge he's "posing" (good word) that you didn't already know? Even better, show me one place where he didn't ALSO blame discrimination in the same speech. He takes both sides of every issue, every time.

northoftheboro

November 4, 2009 - 7:16 am EST

Just as many took to the streets to protest former President Bush whenever he came to town, I will return the favor and exercise my First Amendment rights to protest Barack Hussein Obama when he comes to town.

Get Real

November 4, 2009 - 1:21 pm EST

Haha. You're funny.

djalston

November 4, 2009 - 1:54 pm EST

Good Morning, gso27. Interesting comment and I appreciate the response you had for "04aggies." I agree a great deal with what you offered. I recently completed a seminar called Un-doing Racism. I think it's a great workshop for ALL. Black, White, Latino, etc. Our struggle remains within the Black Community with acknowledging we have come a great deal since the Civil Rights movement and how a lot of those organizations, you mentioned the NAACP (of course there were and still are others), seem to have the same goals and objectives as 1960. However, there are still great disparities and I believe institutional racism still exist. Because of that, I also believe that the NAACP, National Action Network, Rainbow Coalition and others are still very much needed in our society to continue to promote, educate and demand racial equality for all. What I do believe is that their relevance has diminished. Even McDonald's updates their message, image and slogan every so often. The challenge is bridging the gap between my father's generation and ours (assuming you are 27, because I am too). I agree with you about personal responsibility, trust me! However, still Present Day, there are messages out there that black people are lazy, violent, never going to amount to anything, etc. etc. We have to make sure our young people, our black young people get a hold of not those messages, but that in spite of what ever situation they are in or may experience in life, that they can prevail, prosper and succeed. It’s a challenge at times to do that when our schools in predominantly black neighborhoods can not compete with the resources and technology in some of their majority white neighborhood counterparts. And yes I agree that parents not schools should "parent" their child. I'm just pointing out some continued disparities that exist and how we all as a community, black, white, must understand our history, be honest with our present, to move forward TOGETHER. Nonetheless, the truth is, when Woolworth closed down in 1993/1994, future plans were, among others to turn it into a parking garage for downtown. It was my father and who spearheaded the mission along with a few other local supporters to preserve Greensboro's History. This past weekend I walked the inside of the soon to be finished museum and its going to be a great treasure for EVERYONE.

holland4

November 5, 2009 - 1:34 am EST

Was that the workshop that the Greensboro Partnership sponsored last month? PISB brings their roadshow through town every few months. They try to convince participants (public employees, social workers, educators, etc.) that blacks cannot by definition be racists since they are supposedly without power. According to them, institutional gatekeepers must dismantle the oppressive system from within.

Good to see the Greensboro Partnership spending their funds on two-day reeducation camps.

holland4

November 5, 2009 - 1:45 am EST

Ms. Alston: Regarding education, I'm not convinced that there's a disparity in resources. There's definitely a disparity in other things like parental involvement, but there are white-majority elementary schools in Greensboro that are posting incredibly high EOG scores yet hold gym class on a fifty year old stage.

How would you explain the cavernous achievement gaps between black and white students who attend the same school? The same school with the same resources where 90% of white students pass EOG yet under 40% of black students are able to pass. Explain that please. In many schools, the EOG scores of limited English proficiency students are only slightly lower than black students. That's a travesty.

holland4

November 5, 2009 - 1:23 am EST

If Barry's too busy to stop by Berlin for the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I doubt he'll be able to make time for a visit to Elm Street.