What’s the Meaning of President Obama’s Election for Civil Rights’ Oriented Charities?

On May 7, Corey Dade reported in the Wall Street Journal that Civil Rights’ Museums and similar type charities are having to answer some tough questions in the post-election of the first African American President.  This article raises a common refrain being echoed across America, meaning “Now, that we have the first African American president, haven’t we entered a post-racial America.”  The election of the first African American president is a significant step but racism is still alive and well in America for the average African American, Latino American and other groups of minorities.  This is a time for increased vigilance, not less.  Please see excerpt of the article below — What do you think?

Does the America of 2009, led by an African-American president, need any more museums or monuments to the struggle for civil rights?

The question hangs over the proposed Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta where organizers in Martin Luther King Jr.’s hometown are trying to raise a total of $125 million for the planned facility. Last month, they unveiled renderings of the museum’s design and said the facility, scheduled to open in 2011, already has commitments for about $20 million in private support and $40 million in publicly backed funding.

But the people behind the museum admit that making the case for another temple to civil rights in the U.S. has been challenging. “Funders will always say ‘Why does it matter today?’ ” says Doug Shipman, executive director of the planned Atlanta center. “You have to prove to them that Martin Luther King matters today.”

There are roughly 240 museums in the U.S. devoted to civil rights and black history, and many have struggled financially, including an institution in Detroit and fund raising for a museum planned in Greensboro, N.C. Public and corporate funding for all museums is under intense pressure in the current economy, and attendance at most institutions wanes within a few years of opening.

More broadly, the debate on civil rights has changed. Significant progress, punctuated by the election of Barack Obama, has sparked debate about the relevance of traditional tributes to the roles of blacks in U.S. history and as victims of past racism.

During Black History Month in February, several African-American columnists at large newspapers cited the historic presidential election as reason for ending the annual observance. The president himself plays down the significance of his race, as he had as a candidate.

Museum curators and others say projects increasingly encounter resistance from potential donors who don’t leap at supporting historical attractions that dwell on an ugly period in the nation’s past, or who believe the civil-rights movement is less important in the era of an expanding black middle-class and other African-American achievements.

“It’s saying to whites, by implication, ‘Look at what a racist country this is,’ ” said black conservative pundit Shelby Steele, who grew up in the segregated South. “You’re reminding them of this shameful past. You will get some who want to contribute, but it slows down because people want to be done with this.”

Atlanta center board member Tom A. Bernstein, a New York developer who also sits on the executive council of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., said similar questions were raised before that Holocaust museum opened in 1993. Partly as an answer to concerns that the it might be overly focused on the murder of millions of European Jews during World War II, the museum also positioned itself as an activist against all genocide. Mr. Bernstein says Darfur has given the museum renewed relevance. “The same thing will happen in Atlanta.”

How to treat the nation’s history of racial discrimination has been debated for decades. Early proposals in the 1970s to establish a national holiday in honor of Dr. King were widely viewed as radical before final approval in 1983. A monument to Dr. King on the National Mall in Washington won congressional approval a decade ago but didn’t get a construction permit until last fall. Fund raising slogged along for eight years, and work can’t begin until boosters collect the full $120 million budgeted for the build-out, which won’t be completed this year, as scheduled. They currently are about $16 million shy.

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AMT