The opening of the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi
Civil Rights Museum promised to be a celebratory event long in the
making. Civil rights icon John Lewis, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, Rep.
Bennie Thompson and Myrlie Evers-Williams — widow of slain civil rights
leader Medgar Evers — were slated to attend and commemorate a milestone
for a state that has long been haunted by its difficult racial history.
Then this week, just days before Saturday’s
opening, President Donald Trump accepted an invitation from the state’s
governor to attend.
By Friday, Lewis, Thompson, Lumumba and many
other noteworthy Mississippians and civil rights heroes all said they
would boycott the event.
They claimed the president did not support the
spirit of the new institution and would only distract from the
ceremony. Instead, some said they would visit the museum another time,
rather than share the moment with a man they consider to be a divisive
figure.
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