WASHINGTON-The first black president of the USA has formally opened the first USA national museum about the African-American experience, in Washington DC.
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CCTV America’s Sean Callebs reports.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus praised Saturday’s opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution by saying that it “commemorates the legacy of African Americans and preserves it for posterity”.
On the heels of a tense and bloody week that brought racial inequality roaring to the national forefront once again, President Barack Obama on Saturday called on the country to reflect on its checkered past while celebrating the contributions of African-Americans.
Obama delivered his Saturday address amid these ever-heightening tensions, as national outrage grows over the spate of deaths of black men at the hands of police, prompting mass protests.
“We’re not a burden on America, or a stain on America, or an object of pity or charity for America. For we, too, are American”.
A museum alone, said the President, will not alleviate poverty, discrimination, or gun violence.
Ruth Bonner, 99, and her family helped the Obamas signal the museum’s opening by ringing a bell from the historic First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, Va.
Moving musical performances from a 200-person strong local choir as well as Stevie Wonder ushered in a full weekend of celebration that includes the Freedom Sounds festival to be held on the Washington Monument grounds.
The 400,000-square-foot museum on the National Mall houses 36,000 diverse artifacts from America’s antebellum past to the present day, including Emmitt Till’s casket, the 1960 lunch counter sit-in, Harriet Tubman’s shawl and more. Speakers included Congressman John Lewis, who advocated for an African American history museum for years, and President George W. Bush, who signed the 2003 law authorizing the construction of the museum. “Black and white and Latino and Native American and Asian American – see how our stories are bound together”, he said standing on a stage outside the bronze-colored, latticed museum. “It’s absolutely breathtaking for me”. “So many people have dreamed about this, fought for this and wanted this to happen”, said U.S. Circuit Judge Robert L. Wilkins, who wrote “Long Road to Hard Truth”, a book about the struggle open the museum.
“A great nation does not hide its history”, Bush said. Millions of donors, known and unknown, contributed $315 million in private funds ahead of the opening. Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith spoke at the ceremony.
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Master Sgt. Donald Sparks of Houston, who just finished a yearlong deployment in Iraq, said he was eager to see the exhibits inside the museum.
